One of the principal development challenges for Bangladesh is the creation of employment for
the new entrants into the labour force1
and a great many who are currently underemployed2
. The
labour force is growing at almost twice than the rate of growth in population (Titumir and
Hossain, 2003). This relationship is likely to persist over the next two decades or longer (World
Bank, 2006). Moreover, the decrease of growth in population is more than offset by the increased
rates of participation. According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (2010), the labour force
increased at 42.6 percent between 1991 and 2005 for the entire population, with an increase of
31.7 percent for male and 126.5 percent for female. This chapter seeks to provide an
understanding on the issues and options included in broad sector of employment and employed
population by major occupation, level of education, occupation by sector of employment,
employment by industry, status in employment etc. Moreover, the chapter explores the changing
pattern of labour market in different points of view for both male and female workers.
Labour market in Bangladesh constitutes of three types of market: formal, rural informal and
urban informal (Titumir and Hossain, 2003). A small portion of the total labour force, however,
works under the formal labour market framework. There are a few published and unpublished
works on the participation behavior of rural persons in self-employment activities due to microfinance
programs (Zohir, 1999; Mahmud, 2000)