Mumbai has emerged as one of India's best-performing cities in terms of gender pay parity in formal employment, but the city's labour market continues to face significant challenges in women's workforce participation and informal sector wages, according to the National Statistics Office's (NSO) Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2025.

The survey, which provides the first city-level labour market estimates for India's 46 million-plus cities, shows that women in Greater Mumbai earn an average monthly salary of ₹35,788 in regular salaried employment, compared with ₹36,453 for men. This means women earn 98.2% of men's salaries, placing Mumbai among the country's top cities for gender pay parity in formal jobs.

Across urban India, the gender gap remains much wider, with women earning ₹21,664 per month against ₹27,984 for men in regular salaried employment.

The report attributes Mumbai's relatively strong performance to its service-driven economy. Nearly 71.7% of employed women in the city hold regular salaried jobs, significantly higher than the urban national average of 50.9%. Most are employed in sectors such as finance, business services, healthcare, hospitality and other service industries, which generally offer more structured employment and better pay.

However, the picture changes sharply in the informal economy. Women working as casual labourers earn an average of just ₹211 per day, compared with ₹712 earned by men. While male casual workers in Mumbai earn above the urban national average, women's daily wages fall well below the national average of ₹366, highlighting persistent inequality in low-paid informal work.

The report also reveals that female Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in Greater Mumbai stands at 26.9%, slightly below the urban average of 27.7%. In contrast, the LFPR for men is 74.4%, indicating that nearly three out of every four adult men participate in the labour market, compared with only about one in four women.

Women aged 30 to 59 years remain particularly underrepresented. Around 68.3% fall into the NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) category, compared with just 5.8% of men. Among women outside the workforce, 68.4% cited childcare and household responsibilities as the primary reason for not seeking employment.

The survey also highlights regional differences within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). In Navi Mumbai, salaried men earn ₹57,039 per month, while women earn ₹29,589. However, self-employed women in Navi Mumbai report average monthly earnings of ₹84,913, exceeding the ₹62,234 earned by self-employed men. In Thane, daily wages for casual workers are almost identical, with men earning ₹649 and women ₹648, indicating stronger wage parity in that segment.

The findings suggest that while Mumbai has made notable progress in reducing the gender pay gap in formal employment, increasing women's labour force participation and improving wages in the informal sector remain critical challenges for achieving inclusive economic growth.