India?s unemployment rate edges up to 5.2% in April 2026
Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation has released the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) today. Monthly results of PLFS are released in the form of Monthly Bulletins. It presents estimates of key labour market indicators viz. Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR) and Unemployment Rate (UR) at the all-India level following the Current Weekly Status (CWS) approach. The Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) for persons aged 15 years and above reported as 55.0% in April, 2026, compared to 55.4% in March, 2026. In rural and urban areas, LFPR was recorded at 57.5% and 50.1%, respectively. Compared to April, 2025 (55.6%), the overall LFPR remained lower by 0.6 percentage points. Rural and urban LFPR also recorded declines of 0.5 and 0.6 percentage points, respectively, over the year.
Female Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) for age 15 years and above stood at 33.9% in April, 2026, against 34.4% in March, 2026. Female LFPR in rural and urban areas was recorded at 38.2% and 25.0%, respectively. Compared to April, 2025, the overall female LFPR declined marginally by 0.3 percentage points from 34.2% to 33.9%. Rural female LFPR remained unchanged, while urban female LFPR recorded a decline of 0.7 percentage points over the year.
The Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for persons aged 15 years and above in urban areas remained unchanged at 46.8% in April, 2026, the same level as recorded in March, 2026. The overall WPR was estimated at 52.2% in April, 2026, compared to 52.6% in March, 2026 and 52.8% in April, 2025. In rural areas, the WPR stood at 54.9% in April, 2026, compared to 55.5% in March, 2026 and 55.4% in April, 2025.
The Unemployment Rate (UR) among persons of age 15 years and above remained broadly stable at 5.2% in April, 2026, compared to 5.1% in both March, 2026 and April, 2025. Urban UR eased marginally to 6.6% in April, 2026 from 6.8% in March, 2026, while the rural UR increased slightly to 4.6% from 4.3% during the same period. UR in both rural and urban areas maintained broadly the same level on year-on-year comparison.
The Unemployment Rate (UR) among male aged 15 years and above stood at 5.1% in April, 2026, compared to 5.0% in March, 2026 and 5.2% in April, 2025. Rural male UR estimated at 4.4% in March, 2026 against 4.7% in April, 2026. The urban male UR declined from 6.1% to 5.9% during the same period. On a year-on-year basis, overall male UR was lower by 0.1 percentage point.
The UR among female aged 15 years and above was recorded at 5.4% in April, 2026, compared to 5.3% in March, 2026 and 5.0% in April, 2025. Rural female UR stood at 4.1% compared to 4.4% over the month. The urban female UR declined from 9.0% to 8.5%. Compared to April, 2025, overall female UR was higher by 0.4 percentage points.
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