The number of unemployed people in the country increased to 27.3 lakh in the fourth quarter of 2024 compared with that of 24 lakh in the same period of 2023.
Besides, the overall workforce decreased to 6.91 crore in the October-December quarter of 2024 from 7.11 crore in the same quarter in 2023 due mainly to decreased participation of women in the workforce.
The data were revealed by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics in its quarterly labour force update on Sunday.
The unemployment rate stood at 4.63 per cent in the October-December period of 2024 compared with that of 3.95 per cent in the same period of 2023, said the BBS update.
The fourth quarter of 2024, which was the second quarter under the interim government led by chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus, was marked by recovery in economic activities at the rate of 4.48 per cent.
The gross domestic product growth rate slowed down at 1.96 per cent in the third quarter of 2024 mainly due to disruptions in economic activities amid the July-August mass uprising that ousted the authoritarian Awami League regime on August 5, 2024.
Of the overall 6.91 crore workforce in the fourth quarter of 2024, the BBS said, 3.10 crore were in the agriculture sector, 1.16 crore in the industry sector and 2.54 crore in the service sector.
In the same quarter in 2023, the overall workforce was 7.11 crore 鈥� 3.17 crore in the agriculture sector, 1.24 crore in the industry sector and 2.68 crore in the service sector.
The BBS prepared the quarterly update on the basis of the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians.
A forum for setting standards for labour statistics, the 19th ICLS, considers unemployed people are those who did not work even one hour in the past one week for wage/remuneration or profits.
The BBS has been applying the 19th ICLS to calculate unemployed workforce since early 2025.
听
听
A file photo shows jobless and poor people wait for food relief on the footpath of Maulana Bhashani Road at Ramna in Dhaka.听 Sony Ramani
