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Economy › Employment and labour

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Employment data and trends

How many Indians have work, and how that is measured.

The labour force survey

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Prelims

The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) of the National Statistics Office measures employment and unemployment in India.

  • Conducted since 2017, it moved to monthly estimates in 2025 for people aged 15 and above.
  • Monthly figures use the Current Weekly Status, under which a person counts as employed after working at least one hour on any day of the reference week.
  • Its key indicators are the labour force participation rate, the worker population ratio and the unemployment rate.

What changed

  1. 15 Sep 2026Briefnewly addedUnemployment for August 2026 eased to 5.0 per cent, as rural unemployment fell to its lowest since January. Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, 15 Sep 2026: PLFS monthly press note for August 2026 (opens in a new tab)

  2. 17 Aug 2026Briefnewly addedUnemployment for July 2026 fell to 5.1 per cent, as labour force participation rose. PTI, 17 Aug 2026 · Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, 15 Sep 2026: Periodic Labour Force Survey, monthly press note for August 2026 (with July's rate of 5.1 per cent) (opens in a new tab)

  3. 15 Jul 2026Briefnewly addedUnemployment for June 2026 was 5.5 per cent, unchanged from May. PIB, 15 Jul 2026: PLFS monthly bulletin for June 2026 (opens in a new tab)

  4. 15 Jun 2026Briefnewly addedUnemployment for May 2026 rose to 5.5 per cent, with rural unemployment up and urban unemployment down. The Hindu, 15 Jun 2026: Marginal increase in unemployment rate in May (opens in a new tab) · Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, 15 Jun 2026: PLFS monthly press note for May 2026 (opens in a new tab)

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