The latest PLFS monthly bulletin (Sep, 2025) highlights that “Rising LFPR of Rural Women Uplifts Overall Female LFPR for Third Consecutive Month” and claims “Sustained Growth in Rural Female WPR Signals Strengthening Economic Inclusion.” The bulletin details trends in the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR), and unemployment rate. At first glance, these headlines suggest that more women are joining the workforce and that India’s rural economy is becoming more inclusive. However, such optimism needs to be viewed in context.
Female participation in the labour force has undoubtedly risen over the past few years. Rural women’s WPR increased from 17.1 per cent in 2017-18 to 38.1 per cent in 2023-24, while urban female participation rose from 20.1 per cent to 36.3 per cent during the same period. Overall female WPR grew from 19.2 per cent to 33.8 per cent. The September 2025 data also fit neatly into this upward trajectory. However, the rising labour force participation rate does not necessarily imply economic empowerment. Economists Maitreesh Ghatak, Jitendra Singh, and Mrinalini Jha (The India Forum, “Quantity vs Quality: Long-term Trends in Job Creation in the Indian Labour Market”) show that much of India’s post-2017 employment growth has come from self- employment , particularly unpaid family work, while the share of regular salaried jobs has declined.
Real earnings for the self-employed have largely stagnated or fallen. They argue that rising participation in precarious and low-earning work reflects necessity-driven entry into the workforce, rather than a broader expansion of quality employment opportunities for women. The percentage of women workers employed as regular waged workers fell from 21 per cent in 2017-18 to 15.9 p er cent in 2023 -24. Correspondingly, the percentage of unpaid household helpers increased from 31.7 to 36.7 per cent. Additionally, the percentage of female workers employed as own-account workers increased from about 20 in 2017-18 to 30.7 in 2023-24. These trends hold separately for women in urban and rural areas as well. Regular waged work is generally considered the best form of employment, because it is associated with job and wage security.
These can point at a situation where there are no new jobs being created, as a result of which women are forced to enter the workforce as own-account workers or unpaid household help. While the figures can point at an increase in employment and decrease in unemployment, a disaggregation suggests that India has not been able to adhere to the ILO agenda of decent work. Decent work developed to provide productive opportunities as a process of poverty reduction. The four pillars of decent work – employment creation, social protection, rights at work, and social dialogue – seem to be lacking in the trends where women are often distress driven into employment. As a result, much of the work women undertake may be insecure, low-paid, and lacking the protections and opportunities necessary for sustainable livelihoods. This pattern is not new. Between 1999-2000 and 2004-05, rural female labour force participation recorded an unusually sharp rise, a surge documented by Vinoj Abraham (EPW, “Employment Growth in Rural India: Distress-Driven?”) and also analyzed by Himanshu (EPW, “Employment Trends in India: A Re-examination”). The increase coincided with a period of agrarian distress, low productivity, and widespread indebtedness. The sharp rise was largely distress-driven, a response to economic necessity rather than genuine empowerment. Many women, including older members of households, took up self-employment or low-paying work to supplement family income. Seen in this light, the PLFS headlines tell only part of the story. Rising female participation may in fact indicate household distress, limited income diversification, and lack of productive non-farm jobs. The data, rather than signaling empowerment, could be pointing to a silent economic strain, where women are working more, but earning little and with no security.
The Economic Survey, 2025 also hailed the increase in Female LFPR as a “significant move toward independent work and entrepreneurship” because there has b e en an increase in self-employment among women particularly in rural areas. However, studies have previously stated that self employment among women in the post liberalisation period is not a result of new productive opportunities, but of a lack of proper employment opportunities. While it is true that employment of women has increased, we should also address the failure to meet the ILO agenda of Decent work, especially in the context of achieving equitable gender employment.
(The writers teach, respectively, at the Institute of Management Technology, Hyderabad, and Christ University, Bangalore.)