1. Introduction

The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) conducted by NSO, MoSPI, is the primary source of data on activity participation and employment-unemployment conditions of the population. The PLFS survey methodology has been modified from January, 2025 to provide monthly and quarterly estimates of labour force indicators for both rural and urban India under the CWS framework.

Considering the need to generate high-frequency labour force indicators with wider coverage, the sampling methodology of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) was revamped from January, 2025. The redesigned PLFS aims to achieve the following objectives:

• • To generate key employment and unemployment indicators – namely Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR) and Unemployment Rate (UR) – every month for both rural and urban areas at the all-India level under the Current Weekly Status (CWS).
• • To extend the Quarterly PLFS results to rural areas, thereby producing quarterly estimates of labour market indicators for both rural and urban India under the CWS framework.
• • To provide annual estimates of key employment and unemployment indicators in both Usual Status (ps+ss) and Current Weekly Status (CWS) for rural as well as urban areas.

Earlier PLFS Quarterly Bulletins released up to December, 2024, presented labour market indicators only for urban areas. The Bulletin for April – June, 2025 marked the first in the series to provide estimates for both rural and urban areas and the current Bulletin for April – June, 2026 is the fifth in the series. In this Quarterly Bulletin, efforts have been made to provide estimates of the number of workers in absolute terms.

This Quarterly Bulletin presents estimates of key labour force indicators — Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR), Unemployment Rate (UR), and the distribution of workers by broad employment status and industry of work — in the Current Weekly Status (CWS), separately for rural and urban areas at the all-India level. In addition, state-level estimates of LFPR, WPR, and UR in CWS are also provided for selected States.

Key findings for persons of age 15 years and above following CWS:

• Urban Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) remained unchanged: Overall LFPR for persons of age 15 years and above stood at 54.6% in the quarter April-June, 2026 as compared to 55.5% observed in the previous quarter. Rural LFPR for persons of age 15 years and above observed as 56.9% in the current quarter compared with 58.2% in the previous quarter. LFPR for persons aged 15 years and above in urban areas remained unchanged compared to the last quarter. Overall female LFPR stood at 33.2% during the current quarter compared to 34.7% in the previous quarter. The male LFPR in urban areas witnessed a marginal increase to 75.3% during the quarter from 75.0% observed in the quarter January-March, 2026.

The overall LFPR during the quarter April-June, 2026 registered a modest fall of 0.4 percentage points compared to April-June, 2025. Rural LFPR is almost stable at 56.9% during the current quarter compared to 57.1% recorded during the same quarter of 2025, while the urban LFPR experienced a decrease of 0.4 percentage points.

• Urban workforce maintains stability: Overall Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for persons of age 15 years and above estimated at 51.7% during the quarter April-June, 2026 compared to 52.8% in the previous quarter. Urban WPR for persons of age 15 years and above was stable at 46.8 % in April-June, 2026 compared to 46.9% in January-March, 2026. In urban areas, the male WPR increased marginally to 70.7% in the current quarter from 70.6% in the previous quarter, whereas the urban female WPR stood at 22.8%, compared to 23.1% in the preceding quarter.

The overall WPR recorded a decline of 0.3 percentage points, from April–June, 2025 to April–June, 2026. The male WPR remained nearly unchanged during this period, while the female WPR was estimated at 31.3% in April–June, 2026, as against 31.6% in April–June, 2025.

• Overall Unemployment Rate (UR) in urban areas remained stable: Overall UR in urban areas for persons of age 15 years and above remained broadly stable at 6.7 % during the present quarter compared to 6.6% in the previous quarter, while it edged up marginally to 4.8% in the current quarter from 4.3% in the previous quarter, in rural areas. Female urban UR decreased to 8.7% in the current quarter from 9.1% in the last quarter.

In comparison to last year, in the same quarter, the UR at the person level in rural areas remained at the same level as in the present quarter (4.8%). The UR for rural male decreased to 4.8% in April-June, 2026 from 5.0% in April-June, 2025. In urban areas, the quarter-to-quarter comparison with the previous year shows stability for male and person-level UR, whereas the female UR decreased to 8.7% from 8.9%.     

• Regular wage/salaried employees witnessed a rise: In rural and urban areas, engagement of workers in regular wage/salaried employment showed an upward movement. In rural areas, it increased to 16.1% during April-June, 2026 from 15.5% of the previous quarter, whereas in urban areas it increased to 49.3% from 48.9% during the same period.

A quarter-to-quarter comparison with the same period of the previous year also indicates increased engagement of workers in regular wage/salaried employment from 15.4% in April-June, 2025 to 16.1% in April-June, 2026 in rural areas. In urban areas, the engagement of workers in regular wage/salaried employment remained almost at the same level (49.4% vs 49.3%) during the period.