India’s overall Worker Population Ratio (WPR) increased by half a per cent to 52.7 per cent in the July to September quarter of current fiscal year on an annual basis.
According to Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation’s periodic labour force survey quarterly bulletin, WPR increased by one per cent during the second quarter on a sequential basis.
WPR in rural areas increased to 55.6 per cent from 54.2 per cent in the previous quarter. In urban areas, WPR rose marginally to 46.9 per cent during the second quarter.
Among male, WPR increased to 73.4 per cent from 73 per cent in the previous quarter, while the female WPR rose notably to 32.8 per cent from 31.3 per cent over the same period. The data also showed that more people were working or looking for jobs during the quarter.
The overall Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) among persons of age 15 years and above increased to 55.5 per cent during July to September period as compared to 54.6 per cent in the previous quarter. The improvement was driven by an increase in LFPR for both the rural and urban areas.
Meanwhile, overall unemployment rate (UR) for persons aged 15 years and above declined to 5.1 per cent during the July to September quarter of current fiscal year, from 5.4 per cent in the previous quarter.
Unemployment rate in rural areas dropped to 4.3 per cent in the second quarter from 4.8 per cent in the previous quarter. For urban areas, it increased slightly to 6.8 per cent. Meanwhile, the rural female and male UR witnessed sharp decline during the second quarter.
The data showed that sectoral distribution of employment continued to reflect the distinct rural-urban employment patterns, with the rural workforce predominantly engaged in agriculture and the urban workforce concentrated in the tertiary sector.
In rural areas, the share of workers engaged in agriculture increased from 52.9 per cent in first quarter to 56.7 per cent in second quarter. The share of workers engaged in the secondary sector, including mining and quarrying, stood at 21.9 per cent, down from 24.4 per cent in the previous quarter.
