Women joining the workforce, 2017–2024

The labour force participation rate is the share of people aged 15 and over who are working or looking for work. For Indian women it is among the lowest of any large economy. In the 2017-18 PLFS it was 23.3%.

Six annual surveys later, in 2023-24, it was 41.7%. Most of the rise came from rural women, up from 24.6% to 47.6%. Bihar went from 4.1% to 30.5%, though it is still below the national rate.

Researchers are still debating why. Much of the new work is unpaid help in family farms and businesses, which the survey counts as employment. Switch between rural and urban, and hover over any state for its numbers.