The number of unemployed individuals in Bangladesh surged by 5.6% year-on-year to 26.4 lakh in the April-June quarter of 2024, according to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) released by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) yesterday. 

The report revealed that the country’s unemployment rate rose to 3.65% during the second quarter of 2024, up from 3.41% in the same period of 2023. The BBS noted that this increase was primarily driven by a rise in joblessness among men, although the employment rate among women improved during the same period.

Additionally, the labor force participation rate declined to 59.3% in the April-June quarter, down from 60.7% a year earlier. The total labor force decreased by 1.3% year-on-year, totaling 7.28 crore, with 6.96 crore people employed, marking a 1.55% decrease from the previous year.

The BBS also reported a 4.6% year-on-year increase in the number of people outside the labor force, which grew to 4.95 crores in the second quarter of 2024.