India’s urban unemployment rate rose marginally to 6.7% in the April to June quarter of 2026, from 6.6% in the preceding January to March quarter, according to the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on 10 August 2026.
The uptick was sharper in rural India, where the unemployment rate climbed to 4.8% from 4.3% over the same period. The movement in joblessness came alongside a decline in labour force participation. The overall Labour Force Participation Rate for persons aged 15 years and above fell to 54.6% in April to June, from 55.5% in January to March, marking a five-quarter low. Rural participation declined to 56.9% from 58.2%, while urban participation held steady at 50.2%.
Female participation recorded a steeper fall. The overall female Labour Force Participation Rate dropped to 33.2% from 34.7% in the preceding quarter. Even so, female unemployment in urban areas eased to 8.7% from 9.1%, indicating some improvement for urban women during the quarter.
The survey also pointed to a shift toward more stable forms of work. The share of regular wage or salaried employees rose from 15.5% to 16.1% in rural areas and from 48.9% to 49.3% in urban areas between the two quarters. On average, 56.6 crore persons aged 15 years and above were employed across the country during April to June 2026, of which 40.2 crore were male, and 16.4 crore were female.
The quarterly estimates are based on information collected from 5,59,673 persons across rural and urban areas, of which 2,40,881 were surveyed in urban areas and 3,18,792 in rural areas. The April to June 2026 bulletin is the fifth quarterly release under the revised PLFS methodology, which was modified from January 2025 to provide monthly and quarterly labour market estimates for both rural and urban India.
