New Delhi, Oct. 15 -- Rural wages are the most important indicator of the well-being of the majority of India's rural poor. Given their close relationship with agricultural as well as non-agricultural activity, they are also among the few high-frequency indicators of distress in the country's rural economy.

Available since 1998 on a monthly basis from the labour bureau for 12 agricultural and 13 non-agricultural occupations, the series was revised from July 2025 onwards, with the bureau changing both the coverage and methodology of wage data collection and reporting. It expanded the coverage of villages, aligning the series with the revised consumer price index for agricultural labourers (CPIAL), with 2019 as its base.

The new series fr...