Kolkata: Bengal has the fifth lowest unemployment rate (UR) in the country at 3.6%, well below the national average of 4.8%, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for Oct-Dec 2025 released by the Centre on Tuesday. Only Gujarat (2.3%), Karnataka (2.7%), Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh (3.2%) fared better.The gap was most striking for urban females — Bengal’s UR of 5.1% against the all-India 9%. Both urban female and urban male UR in Bengal are the third lowest nationally, after Gujarat and Karnataka. Urban males recorded 4.5% against 5.9% nationally, pushing the overall urban UR to 4.6% against 6.7% all-India.Rural Bengal told a similar story. State rural UR stood at 3.1% against the national 4% — males at 3.4% versus 4.2%, females at 2.5% versus 3.6%. As TOI reported Wednesday, rural unemployment across India declined to 4% from 4.4% in the previous quarter, while urban unemployment eased to 6.7% from 6.9%.Unemployment — a consistent political pitch in poll-bound Bengal — has entered the campaign discourse.The Mamata Banerjee govt’s 2026-27 vote-on-account introduced Banglar Yuba-Sathi, offering a monthly direct cash transfer of Rs 1,500 to unemployed secondary school passouts aged 15-40.Registration begins Feb 15. With Rs 5,000 crore allocated, the govt estimates around 27.8 lakh beneficiaries.Bengal also led on other labour indicators. Its worker-population ratio (WPR) of 43.8% exceeded the national 40.2%, with male WPR at 62% against 55.1% and female WPR at 26.4% against 25.5%.The labour force participation rate (LFPR) stood at 45.4% against the national 42.2% — males at 64.4% versus 57.8%, females at 27.3% versus 26.8%. Rural Bengal (46.4%) recorded higher LFPR than urban Bengal (43.3%), mirroring the national trend.
