What is India's labour force participation rate?

History

The labour force participation rate (LFPR) is the share of people aged 15 years and above who are working or looking for work in the week before the survey (current weekly status). It is a monthly estimate from a sample survey, so month-to-month moves of a few tenths of a percentage point can be survey noise.

The figures side by side

How we got this number

1. Read the overall LFPR for persons aged 15 years and above from MoSPI's Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) monthly press note for September 2026: 55.5%, against 55.6% in August 2026 and 55.3% in September 2025.
2. Take the rural, urban and female LFPR from the same note: 58.0% rural, 50.7% urban and 34.6% female in September 2026.
3. Line it up with earlier months from MoSPI's June and August 2026 press notes: 54.4% in May and June, 55.4% in July and 55.6% in August 2026.

What this number does not tell you

• The numbers come from a sample survey and use the current weekly status, which asks what a person did in the last 7 days. The yearly PLFS figures use a longer look-back and are not the same.
• MoSPI changed the PLFS design from January 2025 to give monthly estimates, so months before 2025 are not a like-for-like comparison.
• LFPR counts people who work and people who are looking for work. It is not the same as the unemployment rate (5.0% in September 2026) or the share of people with a job.

Sources

1. MoSPI, PLFS Monthly Bulletin press note, September 2026, 15 October 2026 — survey reference period: current weekly status (last 7 days)The overall Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) for persons aged 15 years and above remained broadly stable at 55.5% in September, 2026, compared to 55.6% in August, 2026. In rural areas, LFPR was recorded at 58.0% against 58.2% in August, 2026, while the urban LFPR registered a moderate increase of 0.3 percentage points, rising from 50.4% in August, 2026 to 50.7% in September, 2026. Over the year, the overall LFPR increased by 0.2 percentage points, from 55.3% in September, 2025 to 55.5% in September, 2026. The overall female LFPR stood at 34.6% in September, 2026, compared with 34.8% in August, 2026. Overall UR (15+ years) remained stable at 5.0% in September 2026, down by 0.2 percentage points from September 2025. The PLFS survey methodology has been modified from January, 2025 to provide monthly and quarterly estimates of labour force indicators for the country.
2. MoSPI, PLFS Monthly Bulletin press note, August 2026, 15 September 2026The overall Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) for persons aged 15 years and above increased to 55.6% in August, 2026, from 55.4% in July, 2026.
3. MoSPI, PLFS Monthly Bulletin press note, June 2026, 15 July 2026The overall Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) for persons aged 15 years and above stood at 54.4% in June, 2026, remaining at the same level as in May, 2026.

Questions people ask

What is India's female labour force participation rate?

34.6% in September 2026, against 34.8% in August 2026 (MoSPI PLFS, people aged 15 years and above).

What is the difference between LFPR and the unemployment rate?

LFPR is the share of people aged 15 years and above who are working or looking for work: 55.5% in September 2026. The unemployment rate is the share of that labour force that has no work: 5.0% in September 2026.

Is India's labour force participation rate higher in villages or cities?

Higher in rural areas: 58.0% rural against 50.7% urban in September 2026 (MoSPI).

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This figure is from MoSPI's own release or a report quoting it. We recheck it monthly. If you have a newer or better source, send it to us.