THE growth of the number of economic units in the services sector by 56 per cent, to 10.83 million units in 2024 from about 6.91 million units in 2013, as the preliminary findings of the Economic Census 2024 that the Bureau of Statistics made public on January 29 show, is encouraging. But what remains worrisome is that the growth in the number of economic units in the manufacturing sector by 15 per cent, to about 1.04 million units in 2024 from about 900,000 units in 2013, when the census was last held, is not commensurate with the growth of the services sector. The figures stand the share of the manufacturing and services in economic units at 8.77:91.23 per cent in 2024 against the ratio of 11.54:88.46 per cent in 2013. The number of overall economic units 鈥� permanent, temporary and economic households 鈥� has increased by about 4.05 million across the country to about 11.88 million units between the two censuses. Experts believe that the growth of economic units in the manufacturing sector is 鈥榥ot good鈥� for a country such as Bangladesh, where employment in the formal sector is low. They believe that this is so because the services sector in other countries flourished riding on the wings of a successful industrialisation.
The proposition also points out the hollowness of the development rhetoric that the previous Awami League government, toppled in a mass uprising on August 5, 2024 after having been in office since 2009, had repeatedly harped on. The government needs to bolster the growth of economic units in the manufacturing sector. Another finding that has worryingly come up is the share of women鈥檚 participation in economic units, which declined to 6.5 per cent in 2024 from 7.21 per cent in 2013. This is antithetical to women鈥檚 empowerment. A poor participation of women in the economy could also have serious implications for society, leading to a growing economic abuse of women. This calls for early government attention. The finding of the national statistical office that economic units in rural areas dominate, with 70.27 per cent against 29.73 per cent in urban areas. The planning adviser to the interim government, who attended the Bureau of Statistics programme as chief guest, seeks to say that whether the growing business activities in rural areas are linked to poverty or employment opportunities have diversified to areas other than agriculture remains unclear. The proposition leaves the government with the task of looking deep into the situation and act accordingly. What yet remains worrying is the finding that more than 7.58 million economic units face the challenge of capital shortage, lack of access to easy loans, an absence of infrastructure, growing production cost, the dearth of skilled workers, energy shortage and an absence of access to market.
The challenges that have come up in the findings of the survey clearly tell the government what to do, where and to what extent to bolster the growth of the manufacturing sector, based on which the services sector would grow further. It is time that the government buckled down to work.