India’s labour market confirmed resilience in the third quarter (October–December/Q3) of 2025–26, with the unemployment fee easing to a three-quarter low of 4.8 per cent. This marked a sequential decline in joblessness via the monetary yr, in accordance to the newest Periodic Labour Power Survey (PLFS) information launched on Tuesday by the Nationwide Statistics Workplace (NSO).
The unemployment fee amongst individuals aged 15 years and above in rural areas (in present weekly standing, or CWS, phrases) fell to 4 per cent in Q3 from 4.4 per cent in the second quarter (July–September/Q2). In city areas, it declined to 6.7 per cent from 6.9 per cent over the identical interval.
Underneath the CWS framework, an individual is classed as unemployed if they didn’t work for even one hour on any day in the course of the reference week however have been looking for or obtainable for work for not less than one hour on any day of that week.
The labour drive participation fee (LFPR) — a measure of the share of the inhabitants that’s working or actively looking for work — rose to 55.8 per cent in Q3 from 55.1 per cent in Q2. The rise was pushed by larger girls participation in each rural and concrete labour markets.
Youth unemployment (ages 15–29) declined to 14.3 per cent from 14.8 per cent in the earlier quarter. Joblessness amongst younger girls fell to 16.6 per cent from 17 per cent, whereas amongst younger males it dropped to 13.5 per cent from 14.1 per cent. This cohort largely contains first-time job seekers, making it a key gauge of labour market well being.
On employment composition, the share of self-employed employees, together with unpaid family employees and own-account employees, rose to 56.3 per cent in Q3 from 55.8 per cent in Q2. In distinction, the proportion of common salaried employees declined to 24.9 per cent from 25.4 per cent throughout the identical interval.
Sector-wise, employment in agriculture elevated to 43.2 per cent from 42.4 per cent, whereas the share of employees in the secondary sector edged down to 24 per cent from 24.2 per cent.
The NSO revamped the PLFS sampling methodology in January final yr to generate month-to-month and quarterly estimates of key employment indicators for each rural and concrete areas utilizing the CWS method on the all-India degree. This launch is the third to current quarterly information beneath the revised design.
A key methodological shift is the adoption of a rotational panel sampling design, beneath which every chosen family is surveyed 4 occasions — as soon as initially, adopted by three revisits in subsequent months — throughout each rural and concrete areas.
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