Women’s wages grew faster than men’s across all three job categories in 2025, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by the statistics ministry. Female earnings rose by 7.2% in salaried roles, 8.8% in self-employment, and 5.4% in casual labour compared to 2024. In contrast, male earnings increased by 5.8% in salaried jobs and 8% in self-employment, while declining slightly by 0.2% in casual labour.
Despite these gains, a significant gender pay gap persists. In salaried jobs, women earned about 76% of male wages in 2025, largely unchanged from 2022. In casual labour, the gap narrowed slightly, with women earning 69% of male wages, up from 66% in 2024. The widest disparity remains in self-employment, where women earned just 36% of what men did.
The data also shows a modest improvement in women’s employment patterns. The share of women in salaried jobs rose to 18.2% in 2025 from 16.6% in 2024, while their participation in self-employment declined to 64.2% from 66.5%. Casual labour participation among women increased to 17.6% from 16.9%. A similar trend was observed among men. Overall, the share of salaried workers in India increased to 23.6% in 2025 from 22.4% in 2024, reflecting a gradual shift toward higher-quality employment that typically offers greater job security and benefits.
However, broader labour market indicators paint a mixed picture. Data from the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) shows that wages in the informal sector rose by only 3.9% in 2025, sharply lower than the 13% increase recorded in 2023–24. Growth in the number of establishments also slowed, rising by 58.5 lakh to 7.92 crore, compared to an increase of 83.5 lakh in the previous year. Consequently, job creation dropped to 74.5 lakh in 2025 from 1.1 crore in the year ending September 2024.
On the unemployment front, rural joblessness edged down to 2.4% in 2025 from 2.5% in 2024, while urban unemployment declined to 4.8% from 5%. The rural labour force participation rate (LFPR) dipped slightly to 62.8%, indicating fewer people actively seeking work, while the urban LFPR remained unchanged at 52.2%.
Youth unemployment (ages 15–29) also declined marginally to 9.9% from 10.3%, though female youth unemployment rose slightly to 11.3% from 11.1%.
In absolute terms, an estimated 61.6 crore people aged 15 and above were employed in 2025, including 41.6 crore men and 20 crore women. These figures are based on the “usual status” measure, which counts individuals who either worked or were available for work for a significant portion of the year, as well as those who worked for at least 30 days during the preceding 12 months.