According to the latest report by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), as of the July-September quarter of last year, around 26.6 million men and women were unemployed in Bangladesh. The findings were revealed in a quarterly labor force survey published on Sunday, January 5, which shed light on the country’s unemployment situation.

The report outlines that unemployed individuals are primarily those who, in the seven days preceding the survey, had not worked for even one hour and were prepared to work. Additionally, these individuals were ready to start working within two weeks following the survey. The survey also categorized individuals who had searched for jobs in the past 30 days, in return for wages, salary, or profits, as unemployed.

For the first time, the BBS has calculated unemployment figures based on the 19th International Conference of Labor Statisticians (ICLS). In accordance with this method, individuals not engaged in productive work, such as selling goods or services in the marketplace, are classified as unemployed. These individuals are thus considered part of the unemployed population, marking a significant shift in how unemployment is calculated in Bangladesh.

As per the latest quarterly survey conducted by BBS using the 13th ICLS method, by the end of September last year, the labor force in the country comprised 70.6 million men and women. Out of this total, 47.49 million were men, and 22.57 million were women. The number of unemployed individuals included 1.79 million men and 870,000 women. The BBS report also indicates that every year, at least two million people enter the job market, with around 1.3 to 1.4 million of them finding employment domestically. The rest seek job opportunities abroad.

As a result, over the past two decades, the number of unemployed individuals has fluctuated between 2.4 to 2.8 million.