Employment and Labour Market Dynamics (A Review of Bangladesh’s Development, 2002)

This IRBD volume is presented in two parts. The primary focus of Part A, titled State of the Bangladesh Economy 2002, is to examine the performance of the key sectors of the country’s economy in FY2001-02. The analysis in this section concentrates on the major trends and changes in the key macroeconomic indicators such as GDP growth rates, the balance of payments situation, public sector expenditure patterns, aid utilisation, external sector performance, exchange rate, and food security situation. Part B of the current volume is titled Dynamics of the Labour Market in Bangladesh. The choice of this issue for the thematic part of IRBD 2002 is guided by the critical relevance and importance of employment and labour market-related issues for the future development of Bangladesh. The various chapters in this section concentrate on the political economy of labour markets in Bangladesh, its linkage with poverty alleviation and employment opportunities including overseas export of labour services. The analysis presented in this section makes, perhaps for the first time, an extensive use of the Labour Force Survey (LFS 2001). Taking cognisance of the critical relevance of the ongoing process of globalisation for labour market-related issues, this section also looks at the experience of some of the other countries in the context of changing labour demand, and its implications in terms of livelihood strategies of the poor, their options and choices. This section also focuses on some of the emerging trends in the global market which are likely to have important policy significance for the increasingly globalising economy of Bangladesh.