A.        Introduction

The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) conducted by NSO, MoSPI, is the primary source of data on activity participation and employment and 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 the country.

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 Monthly Bulletins for April, 2025 to March, 2026 have already been released. The present Monthly Bulletin for April, 2026 is the thirteenth in the series.

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

 

• Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) shows slight softening:

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.

In April, 2026, LFPR records marginal moderation on a year-on-year basis

 

• Female labour force participation moderates marginally:

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.

Female labour force participation in urban areas exhibits broad stability

 

• Urban WPR maintained stability:

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.

Urban WPR continued to exhibit stability in April, 2026

 

• Overall Unemployment Rate (UR) shows a broad stability:

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.

Overall unemployment rate remained broadly stable over the year

 

• Urban UR moderated:

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.

Urban female UR recorded its lowest level since April, 2025

 

At the all-India level, the monthly estimates are based on information collected from a total number of 3,74,243 persons surveyed.
persons surveyed in rural areas 2,13,027	persons surveyed in urban areas 1,61,216

 

The Monthly Bulletin for April, 2026 is available on the Ministry's website (https://www.mospi.gov.in).

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