New Delhi, Feb. 17 -- India's headline unemployment rate was 5% in January, according to Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on Monday. Rural unemployment was 4.2% and urban unemployment 7%. January numbers do not indicate a deterioration or improvement in labour market conditions because job market statistics are usually compared for the same month across years to account for seasonality of some jobs, such as those in agriculture. NSO's monthly job statistics series started only in April 2025, when the PLFS was revamped to generate monthly numbers. Sequentially, January marked the second consecutive month of an increase in unemployment rate. The rate increased 20 basis points - one basi...