August 2026 PLFS: Monthly Labour-Market Snapshot

📅 Published 15 September 2026•Updated 15 September 2026•⏱ 9 min read•Economy, EmploymentGS III

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MoSPI released the PLFS Monthly Bulletin for August 2026 on 15 September.
Monthly PLFS gives high-frequency indicators on labour-force participation, worker population and unemployment.
It should be read with rural-urban and male-female disaggregation rather than one headline rate.

The August 2026 PLFS monthly bulletin was released on 15 September 2026.
The release is important for tracking employment conditions between annual/quarterly assessments and for evidence-based labour policy.

Release date: 15 September 2026.
Reference month: August 2026.
Survey: Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS).
Publisher: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
Three core indicators: LFPR, WPR and UR.
LFPR measures persons in the labour force as a percentage of population.
WPR measures employed persons as a percentage of population.
UR measures unemployed persons as a percentage of the labour force.
PLFS distinguishes at least 2 spatial categories: rural and urban.
It reports at least 2 sex categories in standard tables: male and female.
Monthly bulletin frequency: 1 release for each reference month.
August is the 8th month of the calendar year.
The bulletin belongs to financial year 2026-27.
High-frequency labour data can be compared across successive months, not only year-on-year.
Employment assessment requires at least 3 dimensions: participation, employment and unemployment.
Current-affairs reference year: 2026; this is CA 218 in the CurrentPulse sequence.
Current-affairs reference year: 2026; this is CA 218 in the CurrentPulse sequence.

LFPR, WPR and UR have different denominators and cannot be used interchangeably.
A falling unemployment rate can coexist with weak participation if people leave the labour force.
Rural-urban and gender disaggregation is essential for interpreting headline labour indicators.