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Unemployment in India rises moderately to 5% in January

17 Feb 2026 Evaluate

Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) in its Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) has showed the unemployment rate among people aged 15 and above grew moderately to 5% in the month of January 2026 from 4.8% in December 2025. Besides, the survey highlighted that the decline in lower labour force participation rate (LFPR) and Worker Population Ratio (WPR), and rise in unemployment rate was primarily rural-driven, with seasonal factors, post-harvest slack, and discouragement effects playing a key role.

During January, the unemployment rate across both Urban and Rural India saw a moderate increase. In Rural India, the unemployment rate inched up to 4.2% in January 2026 from 3.9% in December 2025, while it rose to 7.0% in January 2026 across Urban India from 6.7% in December 2025. The joblessness continued to remain stable among males, while it was higher among females in January 2026 than in December 2025. The unemployment rate among females remained within the range observed during the period April to December 2025, indicating a short-term increase rather than a significant weakening of female labour market conditions. 

The overall LFPR among persons of age 15 years and above declined to 55.9% in January 2026 from 56.1% in December 2025. The LFPR in Rural India dropped to 58.7% in January 2026 from 59.0% in December 2025. In contrast, the LFPR in Urban India grew to 50.3 in January 2026 from 50.2% in December 2025. Meanwhile, overall WPR among those aged 15 years and above exhibited a broad stability in January 2026. 

Following a gradual increase in rural WPR since June 2025 (53.3%) to December 2025 (56.7%), it declined marginally to 56.2% in January 2026. In rural areas, male and female WPR stood at 75.7% and 38.0%, respectively, in January as against the respective figures of 76.0% and 38.6% in the preceding month. Urban WPR remained stable across genders with 70.5% for males, 23.0% for females and 46.8% at overall level in January.

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