India now has monthly official jobs data
🔹 NSO’s PLFS bulletin replaces patchy updates
🔹 Economists long called for high-frequency data
📌 Unemployment (15+): 5.1%
📌 Urban: 6.5% | Rural: 4.5%
📌 Labour force participation: 55.6%
✅ Monthly rural–urban data
✅ Calendar-year alignment
✅ Larger sample, rural coverage
✅ Better global comparability
🚺 Urban female participation: 25.7%
📉 Urban total: just 50.7%
📉 Youth (15–29): 41.2%
📊 Rotational panel surveys
🖥️ Digital data collection
⚙️ Tech-driven labour shifts
🔍 Better policy insights
🗣️ Informed debate
🎯 Smarter interventions
🚧 But core job issues persist