BBS says 2.1m jobless, economists find data 'incredible'

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The number of unemployed people in Bangladesh stood at about 2.1 million (21 lakh) in 2006, according to a survey of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), reports bdnews24.
The Labour Force Survey (LFS) 2005-06 of the BBS defined 'unemployed' as those who do not work for even a single hour a day.
The headcount of unemployed persons stood at 2.0 million in 2002-03.
But economists have dismissed the data as 'incredible'. They say the unemployment figures would be much higher if unemployment and underemployment rates were considered.
They cited flaws in the concepts and method of measuring unemployment.
The economists said the LFS counts low figures of unemployment based on a concept and definition developed in the context of industrial economies.
It is not suitable in a country like Bangladesh where the informal sector constitutes the bulk of employment.
"We count a person as employed if he/she is working one or more hours with or without pay during a reference period," a senior official of BBS, who preferred not to be named, said.
Under this definition, the total employed persons in the 2005-06 LFS stood at 47.4 million out of an economically active population of 49.5 million.
In its provisional estimates, the LFS 2005-06 found unemployment and underemployment rates at 4.2 per cent and 24.5 per cent, down from 4.3 per cent and 37.6 per cent in LFS 2002-03.
"In such an economy, a low unemployment rate reflects involvement in low productive self-employment and work sharing with family workers," says Rushidan Islam Rahman, Research Director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies.
"Some of the 'discouraged workers' leave the labour force."
Rushidan observed that the definition of unemployment was 'inapplicable' in the context of the rural labour market because there was no formal job search process or unemployment benefit for such workers.
"Therefore, the unemployed workers have no incentive to reveal their unemployed status to the interviewers," she added.
Zaid Bakht, another research director at BIDS, said the present definition of unemployment is meaningless.
"The data on unemployed population and unemployment rates do not show the real picture of surplus labour, unless the underemployment rate is considered. Developed economies count a person as unemployed if he works less than 20 hours a week," he mentioned.
"If we use the method, the unemployed population will be much higher," Bakht added.
Former finance adviser Akbar Ali Khan in his comments in a World Bank publication, 'Bangladesh: Strategy for Sustainable Growth', Volume 2, also pointed out the flaws in employment and unemployment data.
"The real clue to the inadequacies of unemployment statistics may be traced to employment data in Bangladesh," he said, citing self-employed, unpaid family workers and day labourers.
Of the total employed population of 47.4 million, 19.9 million were self-employed, 10.3 million were unpaid family workers and 8.6 million people were day labourers, according to the LFS 2005-06.
The overwhelming majority of these nominally employed persons are in the western sense discouraged workers who have given up looking for work because jobs are not available.
There is no justification for classifying the unpaid family workers in the category of employed persons, Khan added.
He referred to higher unemployment rates during 2000-04 in the US, UK, France and Germany compared with Bangladesh's unemployment rate.
"We are all praying for such a happy moment when unemployment rate in Bangladesh will be lower than those in G-8 countries; unfortunately it is not around the corner as yet."