Unemployment rate hits historic high, rises to 4.63% as 27.4 lakh now jobless

Bangladesh's unemployment rate has surged to its highest level in recent years amid ongoing economic and political instability. 

According to the latest quarterly labour force survey released today by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the country's unemployment rate stood at 4.63% in the October–December quarter of the current fiscal year as per the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) standards.

This marks a significant increase from 3.95 percent recorded during the same period last year.

Under the 13th ICLS definition, which BBS also still uses, the unemployment rate was reported at 3.69% as of December 2024, up from 3.20% a year earlier.

Moreover, the number of unemployed individuals in the country has risen to 27.3 lakh under the 19th ICLS framework, up by 330,000 from 24 lakh in the same quarter of the previous year. Under the 13th ICLS, the total number of unemployed now stands at 26.1 lakh, also showing a year-on-year increase of 206,000.

Economists attribute the rise in unemployment to high inflation, poor investment climate, and rising bank interest rates, which have discouraged business expansion and job creation.

According to BBS's definition, an individual is considered unemployed if they did not work for at least one hour in the past seven days but were available for work during that period and the following two weeks, and actively looked for paid employment or profit-oriented work in the past 30 days.

The BBS had previously been publishing labour force survey data based on the 13th ICLS guideline of the ILO. However, in line with global practice, where most countries now follow the 19th ICLS framework, BBS recently started releasing data using the updated methodology as well following criticism from experts and stakeholders.

According to BBS, employment estimates vary depending on whether the 13th or 19th guidelines of the ILO are used.

Under the 13th ICLS guideline, individuals are considered employed if they worked for at least one hour in the past seven days for pay, profit, or family consumption – such as producing goods for their own household.

However, the 19th ICLS guideline classifies only those who worked for at least one hour in the past seven days for pay or profit as employed, excluding unpaid family or household work.

As a result, key labour market indicators, such as labour force size, employment, unemployment rate, population outside the labour force, and labour force participation rate, differ depending on which guideline is applied.