Staff correspondent:

The number of unemployed people in the country has increased. According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the total number of unemployed people in the country rose to 2.61 million at the end of 2024.

Quarterly report on the Labor Force Survey showed that during the October-December period of 2024, the number of unemployed people increased by 60,000 compared to the previous three months (July-September).

At the end of September 2024, the unemployed population was 2.55 million. Overall, the number of unemployed people also increased year over year. In 2024, the unemployment rate in the country was 4.48%, compared to 4.15% in 2023.

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) guidelines, unemployed individuals are defined as those who did not have the opportunity to work for at least one hour in exchange for wages within seven days and had been seeking work for a month but did not find any paid employment. BBS follows this definition for its unemployment calculations.

In 2023, the total number of unemployed people in the country was 2.46 million. This means the number of unemployed people increased by 160,000 in one year.

According to BBS data, the number of unemployed men is 1.8 million, while the number of unemployed women is 820,000. The unemployment rate has increased to 3.65%, compared to 3.35% in the same period of the previous year. The unemployment rate among men is 3.75%, while it is 3.46% among women.

Meanwhile, the number of people employed or participating in the labor force in the country has decreased significantly, resulting in an increase in the number of unemployed people.

Although the number of unemployed people was lower at the beginning of the year, it gradually increased by the end of the year. Over the year, the unemployed population grew by 160,000. During this period, employment in agriculture, services, and industry sectors all declined.

The number of unemployed men increased significantly more than that of women.

WORKING-AGE POPULATION DECLINES:

As of December 2024, the number of working-age people in the country decreased to 71.73 million, down from 73.45 million in 2023. This means the working-age population shrank by 1.72 million.

Both male and female labor forces declined. The largest number of people in the country work in the agriculture sector, followed by the services and industry sectors.

The youth labor force in the country is 22.6 million, down from 26.7 million in 2023, indicating a decline in the youth labor force over the year.

BBS stated that in the Labor Force Survey, key labor market indicators for men and women aged 15 and above, as well as urban and rural regions, are estimated on a quarterly basis.

Data is collected from 30,816 households in 1,284 selected sample areas across the country, based on random sampling.