New Delhi: India registered an increase in both the overall Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) and Worker Population Ratio (WPR) in September this year over the same month of the previous year, reflecting a year-on-year rise in employment, figures released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) showed on Thursday.
The overall LFPR increased by 0.2 percentage points, from 55.3 per cent in September 2025 to 55.5 per cent in September 2026. During the same period, rural LFPR increased by 0.6 percentage points, from 57.4 per cent to 58.0 per cent while urban LFPR registered a marginal decline of 0.2 percentage points, from 50.9 per cent to 50.7 per cent.
However, urban LFPR showed a month-on-month improvement of 0.3 percentage points compared to August, reaching 50.7 per cent in September 2026.
The overall female LFPR stood at 34.6 per cent in September 2026, compared with 34.8 per cent in August 2026. Urban female LFPR recorded a notable month-on-month increase of 0.5 percentage points, rising from 25.4 per cent to 25.9 per cent and reaching its highest level since October 2025.
On a year-on-year basis, overall female LFPR increased by 0.5 percentage points, from 34.1 per cent in September 2025 to 34.6 per cent in September 2026. Rural female LFPR registered an increase of 1.0 percentage point, from 37.9 per cent to 38.9 per cent, while urban female LFPR remained broadly stable at around 26 per cent.
The overall Worker Population Ratio (WPR) remained broadly stable at 52.7 per cent in September. Urban WPR reached its highest level at 47.2 per cent since October 2025. This improvement was reflected across genders, with urban male WPR rising from 70.7 per cent to 71.0 per cent and urban female WPR increasing from 23.2 per cent to 23.5 per cent.
On a year-on-year basis, overall WPR increased by 0.3 percentage points, from 52.4 per cent in September 2025 to 52.7 per cent in September 2026.
The overall unemployment (UR) declined by 0.2 percentage points and reached 5.0 per cent in September this year compared with the same month of the previous year. Rural UR declined by 0.4 percentage points, from 4.6 per cent to 4.2 per cent during this period. UR in urban areas remained broadly stable from 6.8 per cent in September.
(IANS)
