Bangladesh’s labour market continued to weaken in the final quarter of 2024, marked by a sharp decline in female participation and a rise in unemployment, according to the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) revealed on Sunday.
The labour force participation rate dropped to 48.41% in the October–December period, down from 50.27% a year earlier, driven largely by reduced female participation.
The full-year labour force participation rate also slipped to 49.49% from 50.92% in 2023.
At the same time, the unemployment rate rose to 4.63%, up from 4.49% in the previous quarter (July–September 2024) and 3.95% a year earlier.
The number of unemployed people increased by 70,000, reaching 2.73 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, compared to 2.66 million in the third quarter.
This pushed the total number of unemployed in 2024 to 2.7 million, up from 2.55 million in 2023. The average unemployment rate for 2024 stood at 4.48%, compared to 4.15% in the previous year.
The downturn followed widespread political instability and labour unrest in major industrial hubs after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina regime, which disrupted economic activity.
The BBS also reported that out of 58.93 million people in the labour force during Q4 of 2024, 56.2 million were employed, reflecting a year-on-year decline in employment figures.
