As election dates near in Bihar, data shows that the state lags the rest of the country in engaging its labour forces in formal and stable employment, as well as providing its children and adolescents with the education and skills required to secure well-paying jobs.
According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2023–24 released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, India’s labour force participation rate (LFPR) for people aged 15 years and above rose to 64.3 percent in 2023-24 from 60.8 percent in 2022-23, while the unemployment rate fell from 4.1 percent to 3.2 percent. The national worker-population ratio (WPR) also improved marginally to 58.2 percent in 2023-24, compared with 57.9 percent in the previous year.
In Bihar, however, participation remains far lower than the national average. The Bihar Economic Survey 2024-25 reports that the state’s LFPR in 2023-24 was 55 percent, compared to 64.3 percent nationally. Among men, LFPR was 79.2 percent in rural Bihar and 71.9 percent in urban areas, while among women it stood at 33.5 percent in rural areas and 18 percent in urban areas. While this marks an improvement from 2022-23, when female participation was 24.8 percent, women’s economic engagement remains among the lowest in the country.
More people now self-employed than before
The survey also shows the depth of informal employment. More than eight in 10 workers (83.7 percent) in Bihar are self-employed, with a majority “engaged in agriculture and allied sectors”; 10.8 percent are casual labourers, and only 5.5 percent hold regular wage or salaried jobs. In 2017-18, according to the Economic Survey 2020, the share of self-employed workers was significantly lower at 55.9 percent, while the number of casual labourers was notably higher (32.1 percent) along with salaried employees (12 percent).
Where different sectors are concerned, the composition of employment shows little structural change. In 2017-18, 55.6 percent was engaged in agriculture, 28.9 percent in services, 10.5 percent in construction, and 5 percent in manufacturing. In 2023-24, agriculture still accounted for 54.2 percent, services rose only slightly to 30.2 percent, construction stood at 10.4 percent, and manufacturing at 5.2 percent. This is what is called the state’s “employment paradox”, where there is low open unemployment but also limited access to stable employment.
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Migration data adds another layer to this picture. A working paper by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC–PM) titled ‘400 million dreams!’ (December 2024) finds that India’s internal migration rate has fallen from 37.6 percent in 2011 to 28.88 percent in 2024. The study, led by Bibek Debroy and Devi Prasad Misra, used high-frequency datasets such as railway ticketing, telecom roaming and district-level banking activity to track mobility. It attributes the slowdown partly to better opportunities in home regions and shorter-distance migration within states.
The report did not include Bihar-specific data to indicate a slowdown in out-migration, and Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Maharashtra remain the destination states for workers from Bihar. A slowdown in out-migration, or short-distance migration within Bihar, however, may not necessarily signal an economic revival in the state as more than 80 percent of those surveyed identified as self-employed and not as entrepreneurs or salaried.
Youth skilling and education
Findings from ASER 2023: Beyond Basics, which surveyed 14- to 18-year-olds in rural districts (Muzaffarpur served as the state’s representative sample for education and skills outcomes), revealed that only 43 percent of youth could perform simple financial calculations and just over 50 percent could read a basic English sentence. Bihar’s numbers are below the national average, indicating that youngsters in the state are worse off than their peers in other states where their chances at gaining work experience or vocational training are concerned.
The more recent ASER 2024 report shows slight improvements in foundational learning among schoolchildren (6-14 years), but continued stagnation in digital ability among teenagers. In Bihar, 91 percent of children in this age group were enrolled in government schools, up from 89 percent two years earlier, while 45.9 percent of those in Classes 3 to 5 could read a Class 2 text, compared with 44 percent in the previous report. Arithmetic skills, however, improved modestly—from 46.3 percent of children could handle subtraction problems versus 43 percent earlier.
Among adolescents (14-16 years), 85 percent reported access to a smartphone at home, yet only about 60 percent could search for information online and just 54 percent could share a video using messaging apps. These findings mirror the 2023 results, highlighting that access does not equal ability: Young people in Bihar are better connected but still lack advanced digital or vocational proficiency.
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Together, these datasets present a picture of a state in economic transition but not yet transformation. Fewer people are leaving Bihar, but not enough are finding productive work at home. The state’s labour force remains young, informal and heavily agricultural. Without faster growth in manufacturing, services and skill development, Bihar risks missing its demographic advantage even as its migration story begins to change.
