Chennai: Rising Self-Employment Masks Unpaid Work Among Rural Women
The high share of rural women in the self-employed category reflects unpaid family labour and work informality.
Chennai: The share of self-employment among rural workers, especially women workers, has increased significantly in recent years.
High share of self-employment among women workers is masking unpaid family work and informal work, while female labour force participation rate remains lowest among Asian economies.
The share of self-employment in total employment climbed from 52.1% in 2018-19 to 58.4% in 2023-24.
However, the share of self-employment has declined to 56.2% in 2025, although it remains higher than pre-Covid levels of 52.1%, finds CareEdge Ratings.
Analysis of PLFS Survey data shows that nearly 57.4% of rural male workers and 70.7% of rural female workers are self-employed, significantly higher than their urban counterparts of 40.4% each.
The high share of rural women in the self-employed category reflects unpaid family labour and work informality.
Improving rural employment opportunities for women remains critical to their transition from unpaid and low productivity family work to better-paying, higher-quality jobs.
Though India’s unemployment rate has stabilised around 3.1% since 2023, moderating from 6% in 2018, as per the PLFS Survey, the measurement criteria may not fully capture the extent of unemployment, given the increase in self-employment and the prevalence of disguised unemployment in agriculture.
Furthermore, the unemployment rate may understate the extent of unemployment in an economy characterised by seasonal, casual, and irregular employment.
Moreover, the labour force participation rate among women is lowest in Asia and considerably lower than the global average.
India’s male LFPR at 77.6% was higher than the global average of 73.1% and compared favourably with other Asian economies.
However, India’s female LFPR stood at 32.4%, significantly below the global average of 48.9% and amongst the lowest when compared to other Asian economies.
A significant proportion of women in India are engaged in domestic and caregiving work, limiting their participation in paid employment.
The Time Use Survey in 2024 showed that 41% of women in the age group of 15-59 years were engaged in caregiving for their household members while participation among men in this age group was lower at 21.4%.
Furthermore, women participants in the same age bracket spent about 140 minutes daily in caregiving activities, while men spent 74 minutes.