India’s first district-level labour market estimates released by the National Statistical Office on Friday showed wide differences in employment participation across the country, with nearly 58 per cent of districts recording a female labour force participation rate of at least 40 per cent, and unemployment rates across most of the country stayed within a moderate 0.5 per cent to 5.5 per cent band.
The data, released under the revamped Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), provide district-level estimates of labour force participation rate (LFPR), worker population ratio (WPR), unemployment rate (UR) and NEET (youth not in employment, education or training) for the first time. District unemployment rates were also concentrated at relatively low levels. The figures suggest that labour-market outcomes vary substantially even among large population centres, with differences extending beyond headline unemployment to participation and youth engagement.
About 43.1 per cent of districts recorded unemployment between 0.5 per cent and 3 per cent, while another 34.7 per cent fell between 3 per cent and 5.5 per cent. Only 14.9 per cent of districts recorded unemployment above 5.5 per cent, while 7.2 per cent reported rates below 0.5 per cent. Among the 100 most populous districts, South 24 Parganas in West Bengal and Araria in Bihar recorded the lowest unemployment rate at 0.9 per cent, followed by Ahmedabad at 1.1 per cent.
