Unemployment rate at 4.8% in December

Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in the economy was 42.5% in December 2025, the highest in nine months. LFPR was 42.3% in November

Published on: Jan 16, 2026, 15:50:47 IST

By Abhishek Jha

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

New Delhi : India’s unemployment rate was 4.8% in December, according to the monthly Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on Thursday, almost the same as the 4.7% reading in November and the second lowest in the nine months beginning April 2025.

Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) is the share of population working or looking for a job (PIXABAY)

Because unemployment rates are likely to be affected by seasonal factors, and we do not have full-year data in the monthly series yet, it is difficult to ascertain whether the sequential changes in unemployment rate suggest an improvement or worsening in labour market conditions.

What we do know is that the second lowest unemployment rate in December is not a function of fewer people seeking jobs. Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in the economy—it is the share of population working or looking for a job—was 42.5% in December 2025, the highest in nine months. LFPR was 42.3% in November.

To be sure, urban and rural parts of the labour market show different trends as far as LFPR is concerned. LFPR did decline in urban areas between November and December and was accompanied by a rise in unemployment, which would suggest a marginal increase in strain in the labour market. Urban unemployment increased 20 basis points—one basis point is one hundredth of a percentage point—to 6.7% in December; while LFPR decreased 30 basis points to 39.8%. In rural India, the unemployment rate was 3.9%, the same as in November and the lowest in the series, despite a rise in LFPR. LFPR in rural areas increased from 43.4% in November to 43.8% in December, the highest in the series.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abhishek Jha
Abhishek Jha is Assistant Editor-Data at Hindustan Times. He uses statistical programming to generate newsworthy insights from large datasets. He is part of the team that produces Number Theory, a daily data story feature of the paper’s print edition. Since March 2024, he has been writing Weather Bee, a weekly column for the Hindustan Times website. He is a chemical engineer by training, who specialises in stories related to weather, climate, and the environment. Jha has been at HT since 2018, where he offers data-driven perspective and analysis on politics, environment, weather, climate, economy and society. His work includes data coverage of elections in India and abroad, including the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections; the disasters and extreme weather resulting from changing climate, such as floods, droughts, heat waves, cold waves, and dwindling snow cap in the Himalayas; the factors that drive poor air quality in northern India; the changing patterns of land use; the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on labour market conditions; the changing pattern of consumer spending seen in the new consumer spending surveys; and social norms seen in the surveys such as the National Family Health Survey.Read More

Stay updated with the latest Business News, stock market updates, petrol and diesel prices, gold and silver rates, income tax updates and major developments from India and across the world.