India’s urban unemployment rate for people aged 15 years and above rose marginally to 6.7 per cent in the April-June quarter from 6.6 per cent in the previous quarter, while rural unemployment increased to 4.8 per cent from 4.3 per cent, according to the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) on Monday.
The movement in unemployment came alongside a sharper decline in labour force participation. Overall LFPR fell to 54.6 per cent in April-June from 55.5 per cent in January-March, marking a five-quarter low. Rural LFPR declined to 56.9 per cent from 58.2 per cent, while urban LFPR remained unchanged at 50.2 per cent.
Female participation recorded a sharper decline. Overall female LFPR fell to 33.2 per cent from 34.7 per cent in the preceding quarter. Urban female LFPR also declined to 25 per cent from 25.4 per cent. In contrast, male LFPR in urban areas increased marginally to 75.3 per cent from 75 per cent.
The worker population ratio (WPR), which measures the proportion of the population that is employed, fell to 51.7 per cent from 52.8 per cent in the previous quarter. Urban WPR remained broadly stable at 46.8 per cent, compared with 46.9 per cent in January-March, while urban female WPR declined to 22.8 per cent from 23.1 per cent.
The urban unemployment rate for women, however, improved during the quarter. It fell to 8.7 per cent in April-June from 9.1 per cent in January-March and was lower than the 8.9 per cent recorded a year earlier.
The composition of employment showed a modest shift towards regular wage and salaried work. The share of regular wage and salaried employees increased to 16.1 per cent in rural areas from 15.5 per cent in the previous quarter. In urban areas, it rose to 49.3 per cent from 48.9 per cent.
The increase in regular employment in rural areas came alongside a shift away from agriculture. The share of rural workers engaged in agriculture fell to 52.9 per cent from 55.8 per cent in January-March. The share employed in the secondary sector rose to 24.4 per cent from 22.6 per cent, while the tertiary sector’s share increased to 22.7 per cent from 21.7 per cent. In urban areas, the tertiary sector remained the largest source of employment, accounting for 62 per cent of workers. The secondary sector accounted for 31.9 per cent, while agriculture accounted for 6.1 per cent.
On average, 566 million people aged 15 years and above were employed during April-June, including 402 million men and only 164 million women. The quarterly estimates were based on a survey of 559,673 persons across rural and urban India.
The PLFS methodology was revamped from January 2025 to provide monthly and quarterly estimates of key labour market indicators for both rural and urban India under the Current Weekly Status framework. The April-June 2026 bulletin is the fifth quarterly release under the revised methodology.
