UNEMPLOYMENT RATE AT 5.1%, LOWEST SINCE APR

India's headline unemployment rate was 5.1% in August 2025, the lowest in five months, according to Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data published by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on Monday.

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On a sequential basis, the 5.1% unemployment rate in August is 10 basis points-one basis point is one hundredth of a percentage point lower than in July and the same as it was in April.

Labour market indicators are usually compared for the same period across years to account for seasonality of some jobs, such as those in agriculture.

However, it is not possible to do so with the monthly numbers of PLFS because the NSO has started the monthly PLFS series only from April 2025.