Unemployment at 4.8% in Oct-Dec, but share of salaried jobs down again

Salaried employment is considered better than casual labour and self-employment on account of the social security benefits as well as the regular source of income it provides.

The share of salaried jobs was down for rural males, rural females, as well as their urban counterparts in October-December 2025. Meanwhile, the share of casual labour was unchanged at 18.9% at an all-India level, while that of self-employed rose to 56.3% from 55.8% in July-September 2025.

The PLFS data is based on the Current Weekly Status (CWS) approach. Under this approach, the activity status of a person is measured for the seven days preceding the date of survey. The PLFS report for October-December 2025 is the third-ever quarterly report by MoSPI under the revamped PLFS methodology. Previous quarterly reports were only for urban areas.

While policymakers will be buoyed by the increase in the overall Labour Force Participation Rate – which measures the fraction of the population seeking work – to 55.8% in the last quarter of 2025 from 55.1% in July-September 2025, there will be concerns about the sector in which jobs are being found.

As per the latest data, the share of agriculture sector jobs rose to 43.2% in October-December 2025 for those aged 15 years and above from 42.4% in the previous quarter. This increase was seen across all segments: males and females in both rural and urban areas.

The last quarter saw another decline in the share of both secondary and tertiary sector jobs, with the decrease more pronounced for the latter. The secondary sector includes the likes of manufacturing, while services form the tertiary sector.

While salaried jobs dominate in urban areas – accounting for almost half of all employment – agriculture is the biggest employer in rural regions. In October-December 2025, the share of salaried jobs fell in urban areas, while that of farm jobs rose to 6.7% from 6.3%.