India’s job market remains largely stable in Q1FY27: MoSPI

Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) in its Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) has shown that India’s job market remained largely stable in the April-June quarter of the current fiscal (Q1FY27), with both the unemployment rate and worker population ratio showing little year-on-year movement.

The rate of unemployment, which measures the working-age population without jobs, stood at 5.5% during the quarter, marginally lower than 5.6% recorded a year earlier. The overall worker population ratio stood at 51.4% in June 2026, unchanged from the previous month and slightly higher than the 51.2% recorded in June 2025. The urban unemployment rate declined to 6.6% in June 2026 from 7.1% a year earlier, while rural unemployment remained broadly stable.

The overall labour force participation rate (LFPR), which measures the working-age population engaged in jobs or actively looking for work, was unchanged at 54.4% in June 2026 from the previous month, and it was marginally higher than the 54.2% recorded in June 2025.

Female LFPR stood at 32.7% in June 2026, slightly lower than 32.8% in May 2026, but 0.7 percentage points higher than the 32.0% recorded in June last year. The survey also found that the gender gap in rural labour force participation narrowed compared to urban areas.

In rural areas, female LFPR increased to 36.6% in June 2026 from 35.2% a year earlier, marking a rise of 1.4 percentage points. However, in urban areas, female participation moderated to 24.8% from 25.2% over the same period.

The overall worker population ratio (WPR) in rural areas remained steady at 53.8%, unchanged from the previous month and 0.5 percentage points higher than 53.3% recorded in June last year. Urban WPR also registered a marginal improvement, rising to 46.8% in June 2026 from 46.6% in the preceding month.