Arunachal Pradesh Leads Northeast In Rural Female Labour Participation Growth

Analysing female labour of the North East States and Union territories

The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2025 report records a broad rise in Female Labour Force Participation Rate (FLFPR) since 2019, 20, with the strongest increase visible in rural areas. Rural FLFPR rose from 33% to 45.9%, while the urban rate increased from 23.3% to 27.7%.

The national figures, however, do not tell the full story of how female labour force participation has changed across the Northeastern States and Union Territories. The pace of improvement differs sharply between States and between rural and urban areas.

Rural participation rises faster

The rural increase is particularly significant because the all-India Average Annual Percentage Point (AAPP) change was 2.58 percentage points per year. AAPP is used to show the pace at which FLFPR improved between 2019, 20 and 2025.

The major rural Northeastern States and Union Territories are above this national benchmark. Arunachal Pradesh recorded the highest rural increase, at 8.28 percentage points per year. That pace was more than three times the all-India benchmark of 2.58 percentage points.

The spread across the regions is wide. At one end, Arunachal Pradesh recorded an AAPP of +8.28, while at the other, Lakshadweep recorded −2.34. The difference between the highest and lowest AAPP was therefore more than 10 percentage points.

FLFPR declined in Delhi and Lakshadweep during the period covered by the comparison. This contrast shows why the national average needs to be read alongside State- and Union Territory-level results.

The all-India rural AAPP of 2.58 points conceals substantial variation between the regions. A national increase can coexist with a decline in individual States or Union Territories, as the results for Delhi and Lakshadweep indicate.

Urban gains are smaller and more uneven

The urban picture also shows a wide distribution, although the national pace of improvement is much lower than in rural areas. Arunachal Pradesh again stood out, recording an urban AAPP of 5.24 points against the all-India urban AAPP of 0.88 percentage points.

It was followed by Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Chandigarh, A&N Islands, Assam, Tripura and Jammu & Kashmir. In contrast, Puducherry, Ladakh, Delhi and Lakshadweep recorded negative urban AAPP.

The urban range extended from +5.24 to −1.30 percentage points. This remained a considerable spread even though the national urban average was much lower than the rural figure.

The rural all-India AAPP was 1.7 percentage points higher per year than the urban figure. The difference matters because it separates the national direction of change from the distribution of change across States and Union Territories.

The aggregate numbers show an increase in female labour force participation, but the State-level pattern is more divided. The Northeastern States broadly account for the increase, while the Union Territories display much greater heterogeneity.

Why the starting level matters

AAPP by itself is not enough to assess the performance of the Northeastern States and Union Territories. It measures how quickly FLFPR changed, but it does not show the level from which a State or Union Territory began.

For that reason, the 2019, 20 FLFPR is used as the baseline for comparison. Combining this starting level with the subsequent AAPP gives a clearer assessment of whether a region was catching up from a lower base, sustaining improvement at a higher level, or progressing more slowly.

In the rural comparison, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Tripura had FLFPR below the all-India 2019, 20 benchmark but recorded AAPP above the national average. Their results indicate faster improvement despite their lower starting levels.

Delhi also began from a relatively low baseline in the rural comparison, but its AAPP was below the all-India average. This places Delhi in a different category from the States that combined a lower starting level with faster improvement.

The results also show that rapid progress was not limited to States that began with lower participation. Nagaland, Meghalaya, Andaman & Nicobar and J&K started with FLFPR above the benchmark and also recorded AAPP above the national average.

This means that higher existing participation did not prevent further gains. Some States that already had relatively high female labour force participation continued to improve at a comparatively faster pace.

High baselines did not always produce faster gains

The rural results for Ladakh, Sikkim, Puducherry, Mizoram and Lakshadweep present a contrasting pattern. These regions had relatively high female LFPR in 2019, 20 but recorded AAPP below the all-India benchmark.

The urban comparison produces a similarly mixed picture. Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Assam and Tripura began from relatively low baseline levels but recorded AAPP above the all-India average.

Their results point to relatively faster improvement in urban female labour force participation. Delhi, however, also began from a relatively low level in urban areas but recorded AAPP below the all-India average.

Among regions with relatively higher urban baselines, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur and J&K recorded above-average AAPP. Their performance shows that some regions with already higher participation levels continued to make relatively rapid gains.

At the same time, Ladakh, Sikkim, Puducherry, Mizoram and Lakshadweep again appeared among the regions with relatively high female LFPR in 2019, 20 but AAPP below the all-India benchmark. The contrast reinforces the importance of examining both the starting level and the pace of subsequent change.

A changing but uneven geography

Taken together, the four charts show a more complex picture than the simple conclusion that female labour force participation has increased. The geography of female labour force participation is changing, but the change is not occurring at a uniform pace.

The increase is highly uneven across the Northeastern States and Union Territories. Some regions combined lower starting participation with faster improvement, while others began at higher levels and continued to gain.

Other regions with relatively high baseline participation recorded below-average AAPP, showing that a strong starting position did not automatically translate into a faster subsequent increase. The national direction and the State-level distribution therefore tell two different stories.

Using the 2019, 20 baseline alongside the later AAPP provides a more nuanced view of the catch-up pattern in female labour force participation across India since the pandemic. The chart data were sourced from the Periodic Labour Force Survey of 2025.

The writer is an Indian Statistical Service Officer, and the views expressed are personal.

Source: The Hindu