Institute of Business Administration

Assignment On
Labor Force in Bangladesh

Submitted To Submitted By
Dr. Ireen Akhter Md. Bashir Hasan
Course Faculty ID : 201901091
Human Resource Planning WMBA
Course Code: HRM 501

Date: 13 November 2021

Labor Force

The labor force, also called work force, is the population of able-bodied, willing people who are
currently employed or looking for work. In other words, it’s a representation of the labor pool of
a certain country or segment of the economy. Bangladesh economy was boosting in a rapid speed
prior to Covid 19 pandemic. But this natural calamity has hit Bangladesh economy in a massive
scale. Root level workers suffered a lot from it.

Discussion on Labor Force In Bangladesh

Year Labor Force (In Millions)

2016 63.71

2017 67.46

2018 68.84

2019 70.16

2020 67.23

If we go through the data sheet, we will see country's working-age population increased
significantly from 2016 to 2019 but in 2020 work force decreased.

LABOR FORCE
Labor Force

72

70

68

66

64

62
60
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Chart : Labor Force

Labor Force Participation Ratio

Labor force participation is very important for country’s development. We can see a steady relation
in Bangladesh labor force from 2016.

Year Labor Force Participation Rate

2016 56.60

2017 58.86

2018 59.01

2019 59.12

2020 55.73

Percentage of total population participated in labor force is almost equal in rural and urban area
(BBS, 2017).

Participation Rate

60

59

58

57

56

55

54
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Chart : labor force participation rate.

Labor Force Participation male and female

Year Male Female

2016 71.25 28.75

2017 69.83 30.17

2018 69.64 30.36

2019 69.49 30.51

Table : Labor Force Participation male and female

80
70
60
50
40
30
20 Female
10
Male
0
2016 2017 2018 2019

Male Female

Chart : Labor Force Participation male and female

We are seeing in the graph that the male participation is decreasing and the female participation is
increasing day by day.
Unemployment Rate

Year Unemployment Rate

2016 4.35

2017 4.37

2018 4.29

2019 4.22

2020 5.30

Table : Unemployment rate

Unemployment Rate
Unemployment Rate

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Chart : Unemployment rate from 2016 to 2020.

We can see our unemployment rate was decreasing from 2016. But due to the pandemic it
increased as a spike.
Age group of Labor Force

% of the total employee

Age Group
Urban Rural Total
15-19 9.71 9.1 9.3

20-24 13.3 12.6 12.8

25-29 13.2 13.5 13.4

30-34 17.1 13.1 14.1
35-39 10.9 12.6 12.2

40-44 12.2 11.8 11.9

45-49 8.8 9.5 9.4

50-54 7.3 5.9 6.3

55-59 3.1 4.5 4.2

60-64 2.1 3.2 2.9

65-69 1.4 2.1 1.9

70-74 0.5 1.2 1.0

75-79 0.3 0.5 0.5

80 0.1 0.3 0.3

Total 100 100 100

The ILO now estimated and found that the working hours lost in Bangladesh due to the Covid-19
crisis was 12.2 per cent in 2020. Government of Bangladesh has taken lots of steps to cope up with
the loss. Government provided comprehensive supports to labor force across all economic sectors,
including agriculture, SMEs, industry and services. We are still recovering from our loss.