7.2. Basic subsistence and employment

According to BBS data, as reported by the Business Standard, Bangladesh’s unemployment rate stood at 4.6 % in December 2024. This constituted an increase compared to the same time of the previous year when 3.2 % of the workforce were unemployed.650 Meanwhile, the per capita income reached USD 2 820 which was ‘an all-time high’, according to the same source. This increase was ‘mainly due to changes in the dollar exchange rate’.651 According to ILO, the informal labour market encompasses a majority of the total working population; based on a 2022 survey 85 % of the working population were informally employed.652

In 2023, the unemployment rate of young women aged 15–24 in South Asia was four times higher than for young men (42.4 % respectively 11.5 %), according to ILO data.653 This constitutes the biggest gender gap in youth unemployment globally.654 Unemployment among youth with higher education as well as among women in urban areas remained a ‘structural issue’ in Bangladesh in 2025, according to the World Bank.655

Remittance earnings have been climbing steadily since August 2024.656 In February 2025, Bangladesh received USD 2.53 billion in remittances.657 That amount was surpassed in March 2025 and reached USD 3.29 billion, marking it as the highest monthly figure recorded.658 As reported by the Daily Star, increase in remittances was the result of, inter alia, a decreasing gap between official and informal exchange rates, crackdown on money laundering, and ‘a renewed sense of patriotism among Bangladeshis living abroad’ after the political transition. Moreover, many previously using informal channels such as hundi to send money, had started using the banking system.659 Hundi is an informal way of transferring money from one country to another outside the conventional banking system and is outlawed in Bangladesh.660 It has reportedly been used as a means for money laundering, and fail to contribute to foreign reserves.661 A Bank of Bangladesh official told local media that the use of hundi likely declined due to the political transition in August 2024.662