Submitted By: Hall of Fame

Student Name Student Id

1. Md. Sarwar Sarker 14204003
1. Sabrina Sadika Karim 14204010
1. Farhana Akther 14204013
1. Md. Sharif Hossain 14204043
1. Tonmoy Ghosh 14204021
Introduction
What is labour market
Labour markets indicators
Labour market size
Labour Market Situation and Employment Structure
Labour Force Participation Rate
Unemployment Rate
Underemployment Rate
Employment and Wage
Overseas Employment and Migrant Workers
Sectoral Share of Employment
Child Labour
Labour Regulations and Policies in Bangladesh
Ratification and Implementation of the International
Labour Standards
Major Challenges
Conclusion
Recommendation

Labour market is considered as one of the
important macroeconomic markets and labour is
the inevitable components of production. Its
importance in broad economical perspective of
growth, stability and development cannot be
denied. In the context of Bangladesh its
importance is several degree higher for its being
densely population with considerable
economically active generation. The purpose of
this report is to estimate the size and
composition of labour force and its
characteristics .
A labour market is the place where workers and
employees interact with each other. In the labour
market, employers compete to hire the best, and the
workers compete for the best satisfying job. This is a
nominal market in which workers find paying work,
employers find willing workers, and wage rates are
determined.

The labour force
The participation rate
The unemployment level
The unemployment rate
The employment rate
Around 148 million in a small territory of
1,44,000 square kilometre with a population
density of 1028 per square kilometre, the
highest in the world except the city states.
95.6 million workers in 2010, growing 3.39%
annually.
2.6 million unemployed in 2010.
The female labour force participation rate
increased from 29.2% in 2005-2006 to 36.0% in
2010.
youth labour force of the country increased to
20.9 million in 2010 from 17.8 million in 2005-
2010.

Labour market in Bangladesh operates under
different socio-economic norms and therefore
different segments of the market are not very
distinctive from each other and not mutually
exclusive.
High rate of labour force growth
Low rates of employment growth
Increasing youth labour force
Existence of high underemployment
Increasing share of women employment
Wage gap between rural and urban and wage
disparities between male and female workers
Increasing overseas employment
Incidence of child labour.


Year Bangladesh
Male
Female
Total
1990-91 79.6 14.1 48.8
1995-96 87.0 15.8 52.0
1999-00 84.0 23.9 54.9
2002-03 87.4 26.1 57.3
2005-06 86.8 29.2 58.5
2010 82.5 36.0 59.3
The labour force participation rate (LFPR) in Bangladesh
increased from 48.8 percent in 1990-91to 58.5 percent
in 2005-06 to 59.3 percent in 2010. The labour force
participation rate has progressively increased and stood
at 59.3% in 2010.
Figure 1: Labour Force Participation Rate (15 years and
over) in Bangladesh
The number of people out of work in Bangladesh climbed
to 2.5 Million in 2010 from 2.1 million in 2005-06 and from
1.7 million in 1999-2000 (BBS, 2010). Bangladeshs open
unemployment rate is 4.5 percent, which does not reflect
a very large jobs deficit.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1999-2000 2005-06 2010
Male
Female
Total
Figure 2: Unemployment rate in Bangladesh
(in millions).

A large segment of the employed population works less
than 35 hours a week. This group of people is considered
as underemployed. The rate of underemployment has
increased from 16.6 percent in 1999-2000 to 24.5 percent
in 2005-06 and to 20.31 percent in 2010.
Figure 3: Underemployment Rate in Bangladesh (in %)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
1999-2000 2005-2006 2010
Male
Female
Total
Employment status 2002-03 2005-06 2010
Self employed 19.8 19.9 22.0
Employer 0.2 0.1 0.1
Employee 6.1 6.6 9.4
Unpaid family helper 8.1 10.3 11.8
Day labourers 8.9 8.6 10.6
Household aid 1.2 1.9 1.4
Total 44.3 47.4 54.1
Figure 4 : Shift in Status of Employment 2002-03 to
2010 (in millions)
The Labour Force data shows that in 2010, the day
labourers were 19.7 while the employee status was 17.4
per cent. The corresponding figure was 8.6 million and 6.6
million respectively in 2005- 06.
Together with export revenues, migrant worker
remittances constitute a key driver of the economy.
Remittance flow to Bangladesh has increased more than
five-times between 1999-2000 and 2001-10.
10 million Bangladeshi are currently working abroad.
From 2001-2010 about 4.2 million people migrated
overseas from Bangladesh.
From 1999-2000 and 2001-10 period with an increase of
remittance flow from 1.9 billion USD to 12.1 billion USD
(Economic Review, 2012).
unskilled leaving them vulnerable to low wages, poor
benefits, and a lack of mobility.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Agriculture Industry Service
2002-03
2005-06
2010
Figure 5: Shift in the Structure of Employment (% employed
workforce)
Agriculture continues to remain the main activity to absorb
the vast majority of the labour force. However, with the
rise of the trade-GDP ratio which was 29.9 in 2000 and
48.35 in 2012. The share of the economy as well as the
share of the employment in the agricultural sector has been
decreasing.
The last conducted national child labour surveys
conducted by BBS i.e. of 1995-96 and 2002-2003
suggest that Bangladesh has experienced drop of
child labour incidence both in terms of the
aggregate volume and in percentage points as
the child labour has reduced in the span of two
child labour surveys of 1995-96 and 2002-2003.
From the level of 18.3 percentage points of the
respective age group (5 to 14 years) with a
corresponding aggregate of roughly 6 million, it
has come down to 14.2 percentage points with
an aggregate difference of 5 million.

A study (WB & BEI, 2003) finds that labour laws (or labour
market rigidity) do not feature anywhere among the top
seven constraints to business operation and growth in
Bangladesh as because labour laws apply to a small
segment of the economy and the labour market is very
flexible in the vast informal sector. Even in the formal
segment of the economy, the labour market is rather
flexible due to weak enforcement of the laws.
Minimum wages are specified at different levels for
different sectors.
Low are revised very infrequently.
Government has insufficient institutional capacity to
enforce labour laws and policies.
inspectors covering the entire country for where there are
24,229 registered factories, three million shops and
establishments, and two ports
The countrys eight Labour Courts have insufficient
capacity to process their caseloads
Bangladesh has so far ratified 33 ILO Conventions
of which 7 (except Convention 138 related to the
Minimum Age) are fundamental. While legal
provisions exist to maintain the fundamental
principles of the labour standards and to protect
workers rights, the implementation of the laws
is weak. Majority of the workers are engaged in
the informal sectors where legal protection is
non-existent. A number of non-compliance issues
with international labour standards in law and in
practice have been brought to the attention of
ILO supervisory bodies which are mentioned in
Committee of Experts (CEACR) reports.

Review of employment creation experience in Bangladesh
suggests that employment growth has been able to keep pace
with the growth in labour force resulting in low open
unemployment. Employment has grown faster in manufacturing
and services relative to agriculture leading to a fall in
employment share of agriculture.
The average productivity of labour remains very low.
Over 60 percent of the agricultural GDP comes from crops, which
is dominated by food grain.
Export ban on food grain aimed at keeping food prices low for
domestic consumption limits the profitability of the crop sector.
The ability to diversify agriculture will play an important role in
raising real wages and incomes of people who remain engaged in
agriculture.
Expansion of services export from Bangladesh.
Skills development- more specifically of mid-level management
Testing facilities supporting various types of exportable need to
be developed to meet compliance issues.
The quality and productivity of labour force is another challenge.
There are serious concerns about employment standards and
safety of workers .
Bangladesh labour market is successfully making
transition from low productivity agriculture sector
work to more productive non-farm work in both rural
and urban areas. This process has to be continued
and accelerated, with support from the government,
so that a larger proportion of labour is employed in
more productive and better paid jobs.
Unemployment among young people is relatively
high. This suggests the need for employment
generation for the youth at a faster rate to offer
young workers good employment opportunity. There
are major challenges in the education system that
must be met to provide the foundation required for a
more productive labour force.
Labour market policies should be essentially linked
with poverty alleviation policies. Opportunity of
productive employment is the key way to achieve a
better quality of life.
As we have seen, the labour force participation over
the year increases but job opportunity does not
increase in such a way that the country can absorb all
the additional labour force. So the focal point is to
create the job opportunities. Keeping this in mind
the policy should include the following strategies:
Absorb the unskilled and semi-skilled labour force
Introduce work-sharing program and fix maximum
working hours that will reduce unemployment.
Accelerate the economic growth rate using the
macroeconomic components
Encourage the labour force to migrate overseas.
Investment in the service sector and manufacturing
sector should be encouraged.
Urge foreign investors to invest in Bangladesh.

PRESENTED BY: HALL OF FAME
MBA, IUBAT.

SUBMITTED TO:
Md. Zahir Rayhan Salim
Faculty, IUBAT.