Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) Monthly Bulletin April 2026 — Urban WPR Stable, Urban Female UR at One-Year Low

📌 Summary:

• NSO (MoSPI) released the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) Monthly Bulletin for April 2026 — the 13th monthly issue since the methodology was revised in January 2025
• Overall LFPR (15+ years): 55.0% in April 2026, vs 55.4% in March 2026 and 55.6% in April 2025
• Female LFPR (15+ years): 33.9% in April 2026, vs 34.4% in March 2026 and 34.2% in April 2025
• Overall WPR (15+ years): 52.2% in April 2026, vs 52.6% in March 2026
• Urban WPR (15+ years): unchanged at 46.8% in April 2026 compared to previous month
• Urban UR (15+ years): eased marginally to 6.6% in April 2026 from 6.8% in March 2026
• Urban Female UR (15+ years): declined to 8.5% in April 2026 — lowest level since April 2025
• Rural LFPR: 57.5%; Urban LFPR: 50.1% (April 2026)
• All estimates follow the Current Weekly Status (CWS) approach

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 — Indian Economy (employment indicators, women in workforce, urban–rural labour market dynamics).

📝 Prelims Facts:

• PLFS = Periodic Labour Force Survey; launched by NSO in April 2017 (results from 2017-18); replaced earlier Employment-Unemployment Surveys
• LFPR = Labour Force Participation Rate (share of population in labour force)
• WPR = Worker Population Ratio (share of population employed)
• UR = Unemployment Rate (share of labour force unemployed)
• CWS = Current Weekly Status — a person is considered employed if she/he worked at least 1 hour on any day during the 7 days preceding the survey
• Monthly PLFS bulletins began with revised methodology in January 2025

🔑 Key Term: Current Weekly Status (CWS) — A labour force measurement approach where a person is considered employed if they worked for at least one hour on any day during the 7 days preceding the date of survey; widely used internationally for monthly/quarterly labour estimates.