The unemployment rate in India was at 5.0% in September of 2026, below the median market consensus of 5.2% and unchanged from the five-month low in the previous month to maintain the relative resilience of the Indian labor market. The jobless rate held steady despite slight increases in both rural (4.2% vs 4.1% in August) and urban (6.9% vs 6.8%) unemployment. In the meantime, the labor force participation rate eased by 0.1 percentage point to 55.5%, as a drop in rural participation (58% vs 58.2%) offset a slight increase in urban participation (50.7% vs 50.4%).