AN INCREASE in the number of unemployed people in the July-September quarter in 2024 compared with the figure of the corresponding period of 2023 is alarming. The Bureau of Statistics, which has for the first time applied the definition set at the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians — which considers people unemployed if they do not work even for an hour in a week for wage, remuneration or profit — in its quarterly labour force update, made public on January 5, says that the number of unemployed people in the third quarter of 2024 increased to 2.6 million while the figure in the corresponding period in 2023 was 2.4 million, noting that the unemployment rate in the 2024 quarter is 4.49 per cent against 4.07 per cent that was in 2023. The national statistical office, which has so far calculated the figure keeping to the definition set at the 13th conference — which considers people unemployed if they do not work for an hour in a week for wage, remuneration or profits or in the household production — says that the number of unemployed people in the 2024 quarter, keeping to the old method, is 3.64 million against 3.31 million in the corresponding period of 2023.
The increase in joblessness in the July-September quarter in 2024 is obviously consequent on the mass uprising in July–August and the political changeover that followed when business was almost stalled. The number of unemployed people in the quarter would naturally be higher because of political unrest. But figures that the government comes up with are conservative by any standards. The state of joblessness is generally believed to be graver. And, it warrants serious government attention on two counts. If a large segment of the population remains unemployed, it becomes a burden on the families and the economy. This way the government also fails to reap the youth dividend, further complicating the economy. Besides, joblessness has a social implication. Young people left without job could easily be drawn into crimes and drug abuse. This also harms the economy, governance and society. Whilst the figure of increase in joblessness at hand has resulted from an uprising and political changeover, such a situation has always, at least for quite some years, been the result of the absence of private investment that has held back job creation. As the economy has faced a difficulty at least for a few years, private investment in the establishment of factories, industrial units or businesses, which play a major role in job creation. Credit flow for the private has been harmed because of some policy measures, mainly taken up by the Awami League government, which was toppled in a mass uprising on August 5, 2024, and the interim government, installed on August 8, 2024, is yet to attend to the issue with the required earnestness.
It is, therefore, time that the government resolved the issue of joblessness by improving credit flow and other issues for the private sector.