Number of labour force increases to 73.75m

The total number of labour force in the country has increased to 73.75 million in the first quarter (January-March) of 2024 compared to 73.69 million registered in the 1st quarter of 2023.

According to the quarterly Labour Force Survey released by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the total number of male labour force in the country in this 1st quarter was 48.45 million while the number of female labour force was 25.30 million.

The BBS data showed that the total number of employed population in the country also increased to 71.16 million in this 1st quarter compared to 71.10 million in the 1st quarter of 2023, reports BSS.

In this 1st quarter, the total number of male employed population increased to 46.71 million while the total number of female employed population slightly declined to 24.45 million.

According to the guideline of the ILO, anyone receiving salaries, wages, profit or engaged in productive work for the own consumption of the household for at least one hour of work over the last seven days would be considered as employed.

The BBS data also showed that the total number of unemployed people in the country remained unchanged in the 1st quarter of 2024 with 2.59 million (unemployment rate 3.51 per cent) equalling 2.59 million (unemployment rate 3.51 per cent) registered in the 1st quarter of 2023.

The total number of unemployed male population in this 1st quarter was 1.74 million (3.59 per cent) while the total number of unemployed female population was 0.85 million (3.36 per cent).

In this 1st quarter, some 48.26 million people including 11.68 million male and 36.58 million female remained out of the labour force.

On the other hand, the labour force participation rate in the 1st quarter of 2024 was 60.45 per cent including 80.58 per cent male participation and 40.89 per cent female participation.

During this three-month period of 2024, the total number of youth labour force (15-29 years) was estimated at 25.92 million including 13.05 million male and 12.87 million female.

Considering the employed population by sector, some 31.83 million people remained engaged in the agriculture sector followed by 12.75 million people engaged in the industry sector while 26.58 million people in the services sector.

The quarterly Labour Force Survey also revealed that the number of population in the country was 172.94 million including 60.13 million male and 61.88 million female. The number of capable people aged 15 years and above totalled 122.01 million.