96% growth in women’s employment in rural India, 43% in urban areas

Women’s employment rate has almost doubled in the 2017-18 to 2023-24 period, says data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS). Looks like women are truly leading the economic transformation of our country. Additionally, PLFS data shows that the women’s employment rate (WPR) grew from 22 per cent in 2017-18 to 40.3 per cent in 2023-24

Women’s unemployment rate (UR) fell from 5.6 per cent in 2017-18 to 3.2 per cent in 2023-24. There was a whopping 96 per cent increase in women’s employment in rural India, while the figure was 43 per cent in urban India.

A very encouraging 1.56 crore women have joined the formal workforce in the past seven years, as per EPFO payroll data.

Reports show that the employability of graduate women has gone up from 42 per cent in 2013 to 47.53 per cent in 2024. The employment rate among postgraduate women and above has risen from 34.5 per cent in 2017-18 to 40 per cent in 2023-24.

Gender budgets have also grown over the past ten years, by 429 per cent. Women’s entrepreneurship is being supported by 70 Central schemes and over 400 state-level schemes.

There is at least one woman director at almost every second Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) registered startup. A significant 68 per cent of all MUDRA loans are received by women, and a good 44 per cent of all beneficiaries under PM SVANidhi are women

The number of women-led MSMEs has almost doubled during the 2010-11 to 2023-24 period.

The goal of Viksit Bharat is to ensure 70 per cent participation of women in the workforce by 2047.