India’s unemployment rate for people aged 15 years and above rose to 5.1% in March 2026 from 4.9% in the previous month, owing to a rise in joblessness in urban areas.
The unemployment rate in urban areas rose to 6.8% in March from 6.6% the previous month, driven primarily by an increase in unemployment among both urban men and women, according to the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey Monthly Bulletin released by the statistics ministry on Wednesday.
The rural unemployment rate remained nearly unchanged, rising slightly from 4.2% in February to 4.3% in March. Across both urban and rural areas, male unemployment climbed from 4.8% to 5.0% during this period, while female unemployment rose from 5.1% to 5.3%.
The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), conducted by the National Statistical Office under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, serves as India’s official benchmark for tracking workforce participation, employment trends and unemployment levels across the country. The survey methodology was modified in January 2025 to provide monthly and quarterly estimates of labour force indicators.
Monthly bulletins present estimates of key labour market indicators, namely the labour force participation rate (LFPR), the worker population ratio (WPR) and the all-India unemployment rate (UR). They follow the current weekly status (CWS) approach, which determines a person’s employment status based on a short seven-day reference period prior to the date of the survey.
Labour force participation
According to the survey, the overall LFPR among people aged 15 years and above was estimated at 55.4% in March, a decline from 55.9% in February. In rural areas, the LFPR stood at 58.0% in March, down from 58.7% in February. The urban LFPR was estimated at 50.3% in March, marginally down from 50.4% in February, the survey said.
The WPR for those aged 15 years and above remained broadly stable in urban areas in March, the survey said. The overall WPR was estimated at 52.6%, compared to 53.2% in February. In rural areas, the WPR stood at 55.5% in March as compared to 56.3% in February. The urban WPR also fell to 46.8% in March from 47% the previous month.
The female WPR fell to 32.6% in March from 33.5% in February 2026, owing to a decline in both rural areas (from 38.4% to 37.3%) and urban areas (from 23.3% to 22.9%) over this period, the survey noted.
The monthly estimates are based on information collected from 3,75,262 respondents. About 2,13,984 people were surveyed in rural areas and 1,61,278 in urban areas.