PERIODIC LABOUR FORCE SURVEY (PLFS) MONTHLY BULLETIN - June, 2026

Key Highlights:

• The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) Monthly Bulletin for June 2026 was released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
• Overall Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) for persons aged 15 years and above stood at 54.4% in June 2026, remaining stable compared to May 2026.
• Overall Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for persons aged 15 years and above remained unchanged at 51.4% in June 2026.
• The overall Unemployment Rate (UR) for persons aged 15 years and above was 5.5% in June 2026, stable from the previous month and year.
• Urban LFPR increased marginally to 50.1% in June 2026 from 49.8% in May 2026.
• Female LFPR (15+ years) was 32.7% in June 2026, marking a 0.7 percentage point increase over June 2025.
• Rural male UR (15+ years) recorded a decline in June 2026, falling below its level in the corresponding month of the previous year.

Detailed Insights:

• The PLFS survey methodology was modified from January 2025 to provide monthly and quarterly estimates of labour force indicators for the country.
• The bulletin presents estimates of key labour market indicators using the Current Weekly Status (CWS) approach.
• Rural LFPR remained stable at 56.6% in June 2026 compared to May 2026, while urban LFPR saw a modest improvement.
• The overall LFPR in June 2026 registered a modest increase of 0.2 percentage points compared to June 2025.
• The overall WPR registered a slight increase of 0.2 percentage points over the year, reaching 51.4% in June 2026.
• Male WPR increased from 72.5% in May 2026 to 72.9% in June 2026, showing broad stability compared to June 2025.
• Rural UR eased marginally from 5.1% in May 2026 to 5.0% in June 2026, whereas urban UR increased slightly from 6.4% to 6.6%.
• On a year-on-year basis, urban UR declined by 0.5 percentage points from 7.1% in June 2025 to 6.6% in June 2026.
• The monthly estimates are based on information collected from a total of 3,72,852 persons surveyed across India.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS): A survey conducted by NSO, MoSPI to estimate key labour market indicators.
• Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR): The percentage of persons in the labour force (working or seeking work) in the population.
• Worker Population Ratio (WPR): The percentage of employed persons in the population.
• Unemployment Rate (UR): The percentage of unemployed persons in the labour force.
• Current Weekly Status (CWS): An approach to measure employment/unemployment based on a reference period of the last 7 days.