Hyderabad Beats National Average with 55.4 Percent Labor Participation Rate

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has released its latest report on labor and employment indicators, showing that Hyderabad has outperformed the national urban average in labor participation, salaried employment, and earnings. According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data, Hyderabad's Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) under the usual status reached 55.4 percent, notably higher than the national urban average of 50.8 percent.

The report, which analyzed data for million-plus cities in India, also showed that Hyderabad's LFPR is higher than the 51.3 percent average across all major urban centers. Under the Current Weekly Status measure, the city recorded an LFPR of 55.5 percent, compared to the million-plus city average of 52.4 percent.

A significant portion of Hyderabad’s employment is driven by its services sector, which includes technology, pharmaceuticals, financial services, and business process outsourcing. Nearly 58 percent of the city’s workers are employed in service-sector activities, making it the dominant source of urban employment.

The nature of employment in the city is predominantly formal, with a majority of workers engaged in regular wage or salaried jobs rather than casual labor. Approximately 62.1 percent of male workers and 59.3 percent of female workers fall under the regular salaried category.

In terms of income, the report estimated the average monthly earnings of self-employed workers in Hyderabad at Rs 30,075. However, a substantial gender earnings gap remains. Self-employed male workers earned an average of Rs 33,420 per month, while self-employed women earned Rs 15,558.

Additionally, employees in Hyderabad worked longer hours than their peers in other major cities. The average work week in the city stood at 49 hours, which is above the average recorded across other million-plus cities.

Despite these strong economic indicators, female participation in the labor market remains low. While the male labor force participation rate in Hyderabad was 77.6 percent, the rate for women was only 32.5 percent. Economists noted that bridging this gender gap and increasing female participation could significantly boost household incomes and overall economic output for the expanding city.