Labor Market Experience in Bangladesh

1. Introduction

Labor Force Survey (LFS) is the major source of supply-side labor statistics in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) has been conducting the periodic LFS since 1981. The
latest survey was undertaken during FY 2016-17. The survey covered 30,816 households per
quarter. LFS indicators provide a strong basis for taking evidence-based decisions related to
productive employment and decent work.

2. Some Concepts

2.1 Labor force: It includes all persons aged 15 years and above either in employment or in
unemployment.

2.2 Employed: It comprises all persons aged 15 years and above who, during the last one
week of the survey, were in economic activities, either for pay/profit or for own-use
consumption.

2.3 Unemployed: It consists of all persons aged 15 years and above, who during the
reference period, were
 Without work – not in paid employment nor self-employed.
 Available for paid employment or self-employment during the reference period
(one week); and
 Seeking work – had taken specific steps in a specified reference period (one
month) to seek paid employment or self-employment.

2.4 Underemployment: The criteria for defining time-related underemployment are

 Willingness to work additional hours;
 Availability to work additional hours; and
 Having worked (total number of hours actually worked) below a threshold
(usually 40 hours in a week or 35 hours) of working hours.

2.5 Formal and Informal Employment:

 Formal employment encompasses those jobs that are generally covered by legal
protection or employment benefits.
 Informal employment comprises those jobs that generally lack legal protection or
employment benefits.

3. Key Labor Market Indicators

3.1 Labor force (million)

Item # in million %
Male 43.50 68.50
Female 20.00 31.50
Total 63.50 100.00

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3.2 Youth labor force (aged 15-29) (million)

Item # in million %
Male 13.1 65.17
Female 7.0 34.83
Total 20.1 100.00

Labor force participation rate (LFPR) = (Size of the labor force/Size of adult
population) * 100

3.3 Labor force participation rate (%)

Item %
Male 80.50
Female 36.30
Total 58.20

3.4 Employed population (million)

Item # in million %
Male 42.2 69.41
Female 18.6 30.59
Total 60.8 100.00

3.5 Employment by broad economic sectors (%)

Item Male Female Total
Agriculture 22.3 18.3 40.60
Industry 15.3 5.2 20.40
Service 31.8 7.2 39.00
Total 69.3 30.7 100.00

3.6 Employment in the informal sector (million)

Item # in million %
Male 34.60 66.92
Female 17.10 33.08
Total 51.70 100.00

3.7 Employment rate in the formal and informal sectors (%)

Item Formal Informal
Male 17.9 82.1
Female 8.2 91.8
Total 14.9 85.1

3.8 Unemployed population (million)

Item # in million %
Male 1.40 51.85
Female 1.30 48.15

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 Total 2.70 100.00

3.9 Unemployment rate (%)

Unemployment rate = (# of unemployed/labor force) *100

=(2.70/63.50)*100 = 4.25%

Item %
Male 3.10
Female 6.70
Total 4.25

3.10 Youth (aged 15-29) unemployment rate (%)

Item %
Male 8.2
Female 15.0
Total 10.6

3.11 Time-related underemployment rate (%)

Item %
Male 2.20
Female 2.90
Total 2.40

4. Minimum Wages

In Bangladesh, National Minimum Wage Board under the Ministry of Labor and
Employment sets the minimum wage nationally every five years. Minimum wage for all
economic sectors not covered by industry-specific wages is BDT 1500 per month. In the
RMG industries, the minimum wage is BDT 8000 per month.