Women’s wages grew higher than those of males in all major job categories in 2025, according to the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data released by the statistics ministry. The wages of women grew by 7.2 per cent in salaried jobs, 8.8 per cent in self-employment, and 5.4 percent in casual labour compared to 2024.
In contrast, the wages of males grew by 5.8 per cent in salaried jobs and 8 per cent in self-employment, while wages in casual labour fell by 0.2 per cent.
Persistent income gap
Despite the increased growth, women still earn significantly less than their male counterparts. In salaried jobs, the pay for women was about 76 per cent of what their male counterparts earned. This is similar to the pay scale in the year 2022.
In casual jobs, the pay scale for women improved slightly. Women earned 69 per cent of what their male counterparts earned, an increase from the 66 per cent they earned in the year 2024. The biggest pay gap is seen in self-employment, where women earned only 36 per cent of what their male counterparts earned.
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The data also suggests a gradual shift in employment patterns. The share of women in salaried employment increased to 18.2 per cent in 2025 from 16.6 per cent in 2024. At the same time, the share of women in self-employment fell to 64.2 per cent, while in casual labour it improved to 17.6 per cent.
A similar trend was also seen in men’s employment patterns. At the all-India level, the share of salaried employment increased to 23.6 per cent from 22.4 per cent in 2024.
Mixed signals from informal sector
Data from the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises revealed that income growth had slowed down in the informal sector. In 2025, earnings increased by only 3.9 per cent, while in the previous year, i.e., 2023-24, they had increased by 13 per cent.
The informal sector had generated fewer jobs, with only 74.5 lakh new jobs being created in 2025, while the previous year it had generated 1.1 crore jobs.
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Unemployment trends and workforce size
The data from the PLFS indicated a slight improvement in the unemployment rates. Rural unemployment rates fell to 2.4 per cent from 2.5 percent, and urban unemployment rates fell to 4.8 per cent from 5 per cent.
The youth unemployment rates fell to 9.9 per cent, although the female youth unemployment rates rose slightly to 11.3 percent.
“Using the projected population figures of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the absolute number of workers aged 15 years and above has been estimated. On average, 61.6 crore persons (aged 15 years and above) were employed, in usual status (ps+ss), in the country during January–December 2025, of which 41.6 crore were male, and 20.0 crore were female,” the statistics ministry in a statement said.
