Ministry of Statistics Releases July 2026 Labour Force Survey Results
The Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation published its sixteenth Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) Monthly Bulletin for July 2026, providing key labor market indicators for persons aged 15 years and above using the Current Weekly Status approach. The survey collected data from 371,021 persons nationwide, with 211,411 surveyed in rural areas and 159,610 in urban areas.
Key Labor Market Improvements
The overall Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) increased to 55.4% in July 2026 from 54.4% in June 2026, marking a recovery after declining from March to May 2026 and remaining unchanged in June. Rural LFPR showed significant improvement, rising by 1.4 percentage points to 58.0% from 56.6% in the previous month, while urban LFPR increased marginally from 50.1% to 50.4%. Year-over-year, overall LFPR increased by 0.5 percentage points from 54.9% in July 2025.
Female labor force participation showed particularly strong gains, with overall female LFPR increasing to 34.4% in July 2026 from 32.7% in June 2026—a rise of 1.7 percentage points. Rural female LFPR increased from 36.6% to 38.8%, while urban female LFPR rose from 24.8% to 25.3%. Compared to July 2025, overall female LFPR increased by 1.1 percentage points from 33.3%.
The Worker Population Ratio (WPR) strengthened across sectors, with overall WPR increasing to 52.5% in July 2026 from 51.4% in June 2026—marking the first increase since February 2026. Rural WPR increased significantly by 1.6 percentage points to 55.4% from 53.8%, while urban WPR increased marginally to 47.0% from 46.8%. Rural female WPR showed particularly strong growth, increasing by 2.5 percentage points from 34.7% to 37.2%, while urban female WPR increased from 22.7% to 23.1%. Year-over-year, overall WPR was higher by 0.5 percentage points compared to July 2025 (52.0%).
The overall Unemployment Rate (UR) declined to 5.1% in July 2026 from 5.5% in June 2026, lower than both the previous month and the corresponding month of the previous year. Rural UR decreased sharply to 4.5% from 5.0%, while urban UR remained almost steady at 6.7% compared to 6.6%. Male UR declined from 5.3% to 5.0%, with rural male UR decreasing from 4.9% to 4.6%. Urban male UR declined by 0.7 percentage points to 5.9% compared to July 2025 (6.6%). Female UR showed mixed trends, with overall and rural female UR decreasing compared to June 2026 but remaining above July 2025 levels, while urban female UR increased to 8.8% from 8.4% in the previous month.