Unemployment rate rises to 2.66 million, new BBS survey shows

Bangladesh's unemployment rate has increased to 2.66 million in the July-September 2024 quarter, according to a new survey by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

This is an increase of 20,000 compared to the previous April-June quarter, which had 2.64 million unemployed people, the data shows.

In the latest quarterly labour force survey, the BBS used the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) method, replacing the 13th ICLS method it had been using until then.

Under the new method, people who are engaged in productive work but do not sell goods or services are considered unemployed, while the old method did not count them as unemployed.