The assessment by the National Sample Survey Office conducted between July 2017-June 2018, showed the unemployment rate stood at 6.1%, the highest since 1972-73, the newspaper reported. The report said that joblessness stood at 7.8% in urban areas compared with 5.3 parts in the countryside. A political controversy over the survey erupted after the acting chairman and another member of the body that reviewed the jobs data resigned saying there was delay in its release. The last report published by the statistics ministry had shown that the unemployment rate rose to 5.0% in 2015/16 from 4.9% in the previous year and 4.0% in 2012/13. The unemployment among males stood at 4.3% and 8.7% among women in 2015/16, the government data showed.

Source: Dhaka Tribune January 31, 2019 17:03 UTC