Kolkata/ Ranchi: If you’re a job seeker from Jharkhand, there is good news for you — the chances of getting employed are high as the state has the third-lowest unemployment rate in the country across all age groups, the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) has said. According to the survey, Jharkhand is one of the top-performing states in India’s labour market for the Oct–Dec 2025 quarter.The survey also stated that Jharkhand’s unemployment rate at 3.2%, down from 4.3% in the July–September quarter, placing it behind only Gujarat (2.3%) and Karnataka (2.7%), both traditionally industrialised states.However, a closer scrutiny of the data reveals a sharp difference between rural and urban unemployment rates as well as a tightening job market for urban females. The survey found that while rural unemployment stands at a low 2.3%, urban areas face a much higher rate of 8.1%.Economist Harishwar Dayal, who has been part of several economic surveys conducted by the Jharkhand govt, said migration could be the primary reason behind the widening gap in unemployment rates between urban and rural areas.He said, “Usually, people move to cities from rural areas for jobs. But the time taken to shift to a city and secure a job will be factored into the unemployment rate. Apart from this, the state govt’s thrust so far through various rural-centric schemes over the past year could also be one of the reasons behind the dip in the unemployment rate.”The survey also indicated a significant shift in the unemployment rate among males residing in both urban and rural areas. While the overall rate declined from 3.9% in the July–Sept quarter to 2.9% in the Oct–Dec quarter, the unemployment rate for urban males saw a sharp drop from 9.3% to 6.8% during the same period. Even as men found more opportunities, urban women faced a tightening job market. The rate for urban females rose from 12.5% to 15% during the same quarters.On the rise of the unemployment rate among urban females, Dayal said, “In Jharkhand’s context, we can say that women’s employment situation is mostly seasonal, and it keeps varying. Possibly, they either didn’t work or get an appropriate job during the specific period of study.”Commenting on the report, Aditya Malhotra, the president of the Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FJCCI), the state’s apex trade body, conceded that the major reason behind the low unemployment rate in rural areas was due to the govt’s special focus on rural development, especially in the post-pandemic era.Jharkhand has traditionally been a state dependent on mining and agriculture. However, the study found a shift towards agriculture when comparing data from the two quarters. The share of employment in the agriculture sector rose to 50.4% in the latest quarter, up from 44.3% in the July–Sep quarter. Meanwhile, employment shares in the secondary and mining sectors, as well as the tertiary sector, declined to 26.5% and 23%, respectively, down from 29.2% and 26.5%, respectively.This migration back to the primary sector suggested that the drop in the unemployment rate might have been driven by “distress employment” in rural areas rather than the creation of high-value jobs, said Avinash Kumar, an assistant professor at the Centre for Informal Sector & Labour Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
