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Top 10 Indian states/UTs ranked by unemployment: India’s economy has risen significantly since the 1980s, especially after LPG (liberalisation, privatisation, and globalisation) reforms in the 1990s, along with the rate of expansion remaining constant and accelerating in the 2000s.
Despite economic crises and disruptions, like the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, the Indian economy continues to expand at a pace of more than 6% on average over the last four decades.
Today, as the fifth largest economy in the world, India’s economy, with a GDP exceeding $3.94 trillion in 2024, is on a fast track.
Going by IMF predictions, India is probably to overtake Japan to become the fourth-largest economy in the world by the end of 2025, and two years later, it will overtake Germany to evolve into the world’s third-largest economy.
As the world’s most populous country, India’s economic growth story has benefitted from its large and educated human capital.
However, conversely, India’s educated young face greater unemployment rates, indicating a mismatch between the Indian economy and its labour market.
The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for the period July 2023 to June 2024, issued by the Labour Bureau on Monday (September 23, 2024), showed no significant change in India’s unemployment rate, which remained at 3.2% in 2023-24 after five years of reduction.
The total youth unemployment rate stands at 10.2%, with females at 11% and males at 9.8%, with an increase in the joblessness rate for women, up to 3.2% from 2.9% in the previous year.
Notably, UT Lakshadweep has the highest unemployment rate among those aged 15 to 29, standing at 36.2%, followed by Andaman and Nicobar Island, with an unemployment rate of 33.6%.
Kerala, the state with the highest literacy rate, has a 29.9% unemployment rate, with 47.1% of females and 19.3% of males, according to the survey.
Furthermore, Kerala trails behind other northern and northeastern states in terms of worker-population ratio (WPR), that is, the percentage of employed people in the population.
The findings of the research highlighted that 24 Indian states and union territories (UTs) had double-digit unemployment rates between July 2023 and June 2024.
Here are the top 10 Indian states/UTs with the highest unemployment rate:
| Rank | Indian State/Union Territory | Male unemployed (%) | Female unemployed (%) | Total unemployed (%) |
| 1 | Lakshadweep | 26.2 | 79.7 | 36.2 |
| 2 | Andaman & Nicobar Islands | 24 | 49.5 | 33.6 |
| 3 | Kerala | 19.3 | 47.1 | 29.9 |
| 4 | Nagaland | 27.9 | 26.6 | 27.4 |
| 5 | Manipur | 19.9 | 27.5 | 22.9 |
| 6 | Ladakh | 11.4 | 38.3 | 22.2 |
| 7 | Arunachal Pradesh | 21.9 | 19.6 | 20.9 |
| 8 | Goa | 13.2 | 31 | 19.1 |
| 9 | Punjab | 16.7 | 24.5 | 18.8 |
| 10 | Andhra Pradesh | 16.4 | 19.7 | 17.5 |
Source: National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) | Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation | Government Of India.
Reference: Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) has released the data, calculated between July 2023 and June 2024.
Note: This data captures youth unemployment (age: 15-29 years) percentages in both rural and urban areas.
| Rank | Indian State/Union Territory | Male unemployed (%) | Female unemployed (%) | Total unemployed (%) |
| 1 | Madhya Pradesh | 2.8 | 2.1 | 2.6 |
| 2 | Gujarat | 3.3 | 2.7 | 3.1 |
| 3 | Jharkhand | 4.8 | 1.5 | 3.6 |
| 4 | Delhi | 4.6 | 4.8 | 4.6 |
| 5 | Chhattisgarh | 6.6 | 5.8 | 6.3 |
| 6 | Dadra & Nagar Haveli | 7.8 | 3.7 | 6.6 |
| 7 | Tripura | 6.8 | 6.7 | 6.8 |
| 8 | Sikkim | 8.3 | 6.8 | 7.7 |
| 9 | West Bengal | 8.5 | 10 | 9 |
| 10 | Uttar Pradesh | 9.3 | 12.3 | 9.8 |
Source: National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) | Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation | Government Of India.
Reference: Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for the period between July 2023 and June 2024
Note: This data captures youth unemployment (age: 15-29 years) percentages in both rural and urban areas.
The survey reveals that India’s labour force participation rate (LFPR) has increased to 60.1% in 2023-24 from 57.9% in 022–23, with female LFPR rising from 37.0% to 41.7% and male LFPR increasing from 78.5% to 78.8%.
However, the Indian economy is facing challenges in job creation, struggling to generate sufficient employment opportunities for its rapidly growing workforce.
Citigroup Inc. has indicated that India will need to create approximately 12 million jobs each year over the next decade to accommodate the influx of new labour market entrants.
This situation points to a slowdown in improvements within the labour market, as the current rate of job generation falls short of meeting future demands.
