India's headline unemployment rate was 5% in January-March 2026, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data released by the National Statistics Office (NSO). The unemployment rate was 6.6% in urban areas and 4.3% in rural areas.
The numbers for the quarter ended March do not signal an improvement or deterioration in labour market conditions, as labour market indicators are usually compared for the same period across years to account for seasonality of some jobs.
The January-March unemployment rate was 20 basis points higher than in October-December 2025, with the increase being completely on account of rural areas, where unemployment increased by 30 basis points to 4.3% in January-March.
The labour force participation rate (LFPR) decreased 30 basis points to 39.7% in urban areas and 10 basis points in rural areas to 43.1%, with overall LFPR decreasing 20 basis points to 42.2%.
The share of agricultural workers decreased by 2.1 percentage points to 41.1% in January-March, while the share of secondary sector workers increased by 1.2 percentage points to 25.2% and the share of workers in services increased by 90 basis points to 33.7%.
A lower share of agriculture meant that the quality of jobs also improved sequentially, with the share of unpaid family workers decreasing by 60 basis points to 14.3% and that of regular wage/salaried workers increasing 60 basis points to 25.5%.
