Number of employed individuals declines due to economic slowdown

Illustration: TBS

The first quarter of 2023 saw a decline in the number of employed individuals across all major sectors – agriculture, industries, and services – which according to economists indicates a slowdown in economic activity.

According to the quarterly Labour Force Survey of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) released on Tuesday, the total number of employed individuals decreased from 71.53 million a year ago to 71.10 million in Q1 of this year.

BBS data shows that employment in the agriculture sector, which accounts for around 45% of total employment, decreased from 32.08 million in the same period last year to 31.94 million in Q1 of this year.

Zahid Hussain, former lead economist of the World Bank's Dhaka office, said that both private and public sector projections regarding economic conditions indicate that the economy has been experiencing a slowdown in recent months.

"This slowdown is due to a combination of factors such as high inflation, a potential global recession, declining export orders, and decreased imports," Hussain told The Business Standard.

He said that all of these factors have had an impact on employment.

According to the survey, the unemployment rate has decreased from 4% to 3.51% during the period. The number of unemployed individuals has declined from 2.95 million in the first quarter of 2022 to 2.59 million in the same time of the current year.

Zahid Hussain explained that the numbers of both employed and unemployed individuals could decrease simultaneously if those who become unemployed withdraw from the labour market and do not actively seek employment.

Employment opportunities have died out, due to which the unemployed are not even looking for jobs, he said.

Dr Mustafa K Mujeri, former director general of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), explained that some of the people who were employed in the first quarter of last year may have left the labour market for various reasons, which is why both the number of employed and unemployed individuals decreased.

However, the survey found that the number of unemployed individuals increased slightly in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the last quarter of 2022. In the previous quarter, the number of unemployed individuals was recorded as 2.32 million.

Planning Minister Shamsul Alam, who attended the programme where the survey was published, said that in the first quarter of the year (January to March), work in the agricultural sector in Bangladesh slightly decreased. This resulted in many people, especially those engaged in agricultural work, remaining unemployed for some time.

Total labour force decreased

The survey found that the total labour force in the country declined to 73.69 million in the first quarter of this year, which was 78.48 million in the same quarter last year.

While the male labour force increased from 48 million to 48.25 million, the female labour force decreased from 26.48 million to 25.44 million.

In contrast, while the number of employed men increased from 46.32 million to 46.54 million, the total number of employed women decreased from 25.21 million to 24.56 million during the same period.

Meanwhile, the number of female unemployed individuals fell from 1.27 million to 0.88 million, whereas the number of male unemployed individuals increased from 1.68 million to 1.71 million.

BBS data reveals that the number of employed individuals in the industry and service sectors was 12.25 million and 26.91 million, respectively, in the first quarter of this year.

The figures were 12.30 million and 28.38 million, respectively, in the same period of the previous year.

Labuor force participation rate declined

According to the BBS survey, the labour force participation rate decreased from 61.76% to 61.37% during the period.

The rate of women's participation in the labour force decreased from 43.3% to 41.95%, while the rate of men's participation increased from 80.74% to 81.17%.