BANGLADESH

Only 2.6 million people were without job in Bangladesh in 2010 – the latest figures available – which was around 4.5 percent of the country's total economically active population, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

However, according to surveys of private organisations in the country, the number is 'far higher'.

The figures of the survey on the labour force – the 11th in Bangladesh and done in May 2010 – were revealed at a press briefing on Monday. The previous survey was carried out in 2005-6.

According to the latest survey, there were more jobless people in the towns and cities than they were in villages.

The Labour Force Survey-2010 collected information from a total 1,500 sample areas – 325 in urban areas and 1,175 in the rural areas.

LFS 2010 was carried out in 34,226 thanas in village areas across the country and another 9,325 thanas in city areas.

When asked why the number of unemployed persons is lower than expected, BBS officials said the number of unemployed persons was determined as per the definition and ideas of International Labour Organisation (ILO).

In the survey, BBS defined 'employed' as those who have worked at least for a single hour in the last week in his private farm, any company or institution with or without pay.

It labelled those as 'unemployed' who had not worked or could not find any job in the last four weeks.

According to BBS definition, total number of employed persons in the 2010 LFS stood at 50.41 million out of an economically active population of 50.67 million.

According to the survey results, labour in between 2002-3 and 2005-6 increased by a 3.2 million, of which, 3.1 million were employed.

The labour force increased by 7.2 million from between 2005-6 and 2010. There were around 500,000 unemployed persons during this time.

The survey says the rate of labour force increase from 2005-6 to 2010 was 3.39 percent with a 3.10 percent rise in the towns and 3.48 percent in villages.

Based on gender and areas, the percentage of unemployment was higher in the towns than in villages. Among the 4.5 percent unemployed of the total active population, 4.1 percent were male and 5.7 percent female.

In the towns, of the 6.5 percent unemployed, 5.7 percent were males and 8.3 percent were females. In the villages the respective percentages were 3.6 and 4.9.