New Delhi, Aug. 17 -- Overall unemployment rate among persons aged 15 years and above declined to 5.1 per cent in July 2026 from 5.5 per cent in the previous month, according to a government survey.
According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO), released on Monday, the Unemployment Rate (UR) among persons aged 15 years and above was 4.5 per cent in rural areas, down from 5 per cent in the previous month. The urban UR remained almost steady at 6.7 per cent in July 2026 compared to 6.6 per cent in June 2026.
Compared with July 2025, the overall UR and rural UR remained broadly stable in July 2026, whereas the urban UR decreased by 0.5 percentage point from 7.2 per cent in July 2025.
Rural UR across genders and urban male UR declined, it stated.
Among males aged 15 years and above, the overall UR declined from 5.3 per cent in June 2026 to 5.0 per cent in July 2026. This is also lower by 0.3 percentage points as compared to July 2025 (5.3 per cent).
The rural male UR declined from 4.9 per cent in June 2026 to 4.6 per cent in July 2026 and was at the same level observed in July, 2025. While the urban male UR maintained broad stability in comparison with the previous month, it declined by 0.7 percentage point to 5.9 per cent in July 2026 against 6.6 per cent in July, 2025.
For females aged 15 years and above, the overall and rural UR in July 2026 decreased in comparison to June 2026. However, it remained above the level observed a year ago in July, 2025.
The urban female UR increased by 0.4 percentage points to 8.8 per cent in July2026 from 8.4 per cent in June 2026, while it remained broadly stable compared with the July 2025 level (8.7 per cent).
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.