India’s unemployment rate eased to a five-month low of 5 per cent in August from 5.1 per cent in July, as both the labour force participation rate (LFPR) and the worker population ratio (WPR) strengthened, according to the latest monthly bulletin of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), released by the National Statistics Office on Tuesday.
The decline was driven largely by rural areas, where the jobless rate fell to an eight-month low of 4.1 per cent in August from 4.5 per cent in July. The urban unemployment rate, in terms of the current weekly status (CWS), was broadly steady at 6.8 per cent, against 6.7 per cent in the preceding month.
Under the CWS approach, activity status is determined based on the reference period of the seven days preceding the date of the survey. A person is considered unemployed if they did not work even for one hour on any day during the reference week but sought work or were available for work for at least one hour on any day during the reference week.
The LFPR, which is the percentage of the population that is either working or actively looking for work, rose to a six-month high of 55.6 per cent in August from 55.4 per cent in July. The LFPR in rural areas rose to 58.2 per cent during the month from 58 per cent in July, while in urban areas it held steady at 50.4 per cent.
The WPR, which represents the number of persons/person-days employed per 1,000 persons/person-days, rose to 52.8 per cent during the month from 52.5 per cent in July — its highest level since March 2026. The WPR in rural areas increased to 55.8 per cent from 55.4 per cent, while in urban areas it remained unchanged at 47 per cent.
Overall, the male and female worker population ratios also improved during the month, reaching 73.5 per cent and 33 per cent, respectively, from 73.3 per cent and 32.5 per cent in July.
The overall unemployment rate among men declined to 4.9 per cent in August from 5 per cent in July, falling for the third straight month from 5.4 per cent in May. The female unemployment rate fell to 5.1 per cent from 5.4 per cent in July. Both the male and female unemployment rates hit six-month lows in August.
The sampling methodology of the PLFS was revamped in January last year to estimate key employment and unemployment indicators monthly for rural and urban areas using the CWS method at the all-India level.
