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India’s Labour Force Participation Rate ends 2025 at new high of 56.1%

As per the statistics ministry’s latest Periodic Labour Force Survey, the unemployment rate edged up to 4.8% in December from 4.7% the previous month.

2 min readNew DelhiJan 15, 2026 08:04 PM IST

Rush of job seekers at the job fair. (Source: Express Archives)

India’s Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) rose to a new high of 56.1 per cent in December, according to the statistics ministry’s latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), contributing to a slight increase in the unemployment rate to 4.8 per cent from November’s 4.7 per cent

As per data released on Thursday, the LFPR for those aged 15 years and above is the highest since the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) started releasing monthly labour market data from April following a revamp of the PLFS.

The LFPR is the fraction of the population that is seeking work.

The statistics ministry has previously cautioned that changes in the monthly PLFS ratios do not necessarily reflect “secular trends” as they were to be expected on account of the increased frequency of the survey as well as seasonal, academic, and labour market factors.

The monthly jobs data is based on the Current Weekly Status (CWS) approach. Under this approach, the activity status of a person is measured for the seven days preceding the date of survey.

The December PLFS data was noteworthy for an increase in people in rural areas seeking work, with the rural LFPR rising 40 basis points (bps) to 59 per cent, more than cancelling out a 20-bps decline in the urban LFPR for those aged 15 years and above.

Within rural, men led the search for jobs, with the male LFPR rising 60 bps to 79.3 per cent, while that of females rose 40 bps to 40.1 per cent. In urban areas, the LFPR either declined or was unchanged across all segments: males, females, as well as young men and women (aged 15-29 years). This led to the overall urban LFPR falling to 50.2 per cent from 50.4 per cent in November.

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The rise in rural LFPR in December did not lead to a decline in the segment’s unemployment rate, which stayed steady at 3.9 per cent for those aged 15 years and above. However, the jobless rate rose 20 bps to 12.6 per cent for rural youth. In urban areas, the unemployment rate rose to 6.7 per cent from 6.5 per cent even though the LFPR fell.

Siddharth Upasani

Siddharth Upasani is a Deputy Associate Editor with The Indian Express. He reports primarily on data and the economy, looking for trends and changes in the former which paint a picture of the latter. Before The Indian Express, he worked at Moneycontrol and financial newswire Informist (previously called Cogencis). Outside of work, sports, fantasy football, and graphic novels keep him busy. ... Read More