India's Unemployment Rate Declines as Employment Conditions Improve

India's unemployment rate declined to 5.1% during the July–September 2026 quarter, compared with 5.4% in the previous quarter, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). The improvement was primarily driven by a decline in rural unemployment. The rural unemployment rate fell from 4.8% to 4.3%, while the urban rate edged up slightly from 6.7% to 6.8%.

Women's participation in the workforce also recorded an improvement. The share of women who were either employed or actively seeking work increased from 33.2% to 34.7%. The proportion of women actually employed rose from 31.3% to 32.8%. The survey estimated that approximately 57.9 crore people aged 15 and above were employed across the country during the quarter, including 40.5 crore men and 17.4 crore women.