India's unemployment rate stays at 5% in September; urban female participation hits 11-month high

The unemployment rate in India remained steady at 5% in September even as urban female labour force participation rose to its highest level since October 2025, according to the latest government data released on Thursday.

The overall unemployment rate among persons aged 15 years and above declined by 0.2 percentage points year-on-year from 5.2% in September 2025 to 5% in September 2026, the monthly bulletin released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation showed.

The urban female labour force participation rate (LFPR) increased to 25.9% in September from 25.4% in August, reaching its highest level since October last year.

The overall LFPR, which measures the proportion of the population that is either working or seeking work, stood at 55.5% in September, marginally lower than 55.6% in August. It was higher than 55.3% a year ago.

The female LFPR across rural and urban areas rose by 0.5 percentage points year-on-year to 34.6% in September.

In rural areas, the rate increased by one percentage point to 38.9% over the same period.

The worker population ratio (WPR), which measures the proportion of employed persons in the population, increased by 0.3 percentage points year-on-year to 52.7% in September.

Urban WPR rose to 47.2%, its highest level since October 2025, from 47.1% in August.

At the all-India level, the male WPR rose by 0.4 percentage points year-on-year to 73.6%, while the female WPR increased by 0.5 percentage points to 32.8%.

The overall unemployment rate remained unchanged from August.

However, the rate in urban areas edged up to 6.9% from 6.8%, while the rural unemployment rate was broadly stable at 4.2% against 4.1% in the previous month.

The rural female unemployment rate declined to 3.9% in September, its lowest level recorded during 2026, from 4.3% a year earlier.

The overall male unemployment rate stood at 4.9% in September, down 0.2 percentage points year-on-year. The female unemployment rate declined by 0.3 percentage points to 5.2% over the same period.

In urban areas, the female unemployment rate increased to 9.2% in September from 8.9% in August, while the male rate declined to 6% from 6.1%.

The rural male unemployment rate fell to 4.4% from 4.7% a year ago, while the rural female rate declined to 3.9% from 4.3%.

The monthly estimates are based on the information collected from 3,70,513 persons, including 2,11,333 in rural areas and 1,59,180 in urban areas.