Unincorporated sector jobs dipped 2.1% in Q1

Employment in India's unincorporated non-agricultural sector dipped by 2.1 per cent sequentially in the first quarter of the financial year 2026 (Q1FY26) even as the total number of establishments saw a slight increase, the government said on Wednesday.

- HIMANSHI BHARDWAJ

According to the National Statistical Office's (NSO's) new Quarterly Bulletin of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (QBUSE), the number of workers across rural and urban unincorporated enterprises fell to 128.6 million in Q1FY26 from an all-time high of 131.3 million in Q4FY25.

Pronab Sen, the chairman of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), attributed the fall largely to seasonal patterns in informal employment, pointing out that firms typically hire additional workers on a temporary basis during peak seasons, letting them go once demand subsides.