As funds run out, labour data collection stops

Labour data collection remains halted this year after the survey project ran out of funds, leaving policymakers without up-to-date figures at a time when unemployment is rising.

The state-run Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) suspended its Labour Force Survey (LFS) earlier this year.

The last available quarterly data covers the October-December quarter of 2024, when the number of unemployed rose to 27.30 lakh, up from 26.60 lakh in the July-September period.

Unlike the Consumer Price Index, which is funded through the revenue budget and released every month, the LFS is conducted on a project basis. When the project ends, so does data collection.

"Now the project activities, including labour data collection, remain suspended. We will not be able to provide data for the current year," a senior BBS official told The Daily Star, preferring anonymity.

"If a new project with adequate funding is approved, we may be able to resume data collection next year," the official added. 

Economists say such interruptions create a serious gap. According to them, labour force surveys are as important as GDP or inflation data, yet remain hostage to temporary funding.

"As long as the survey depends on temporary projects, gaps in data collection are inevitable," said Zahid Hussain, a former lead economist of the World Bank's Dhaka office.

Hussain said, "This is not a new problem; similar interruptions have occurred since 2017."

The last full LFS was carried out in 2022, the previous one in FY2016-17. After 2022, BBS had resumed quarterly releases for two years, but the latest suspension has broken that cycle once again.

Hussain said routine labour, income, and expenditure surveys are very important for tracking employment and economic trends, just as national accounts and inflation data are.

"Until key surveys like the LFS and Household Income and Expenditure Survey are funded through the revenue budget, these interruptions will continue," said the economist.

"When projects restart, new staff may join and some old staff may return, but the disruption already hurts both data users and producers."

In the absence of reliable information, he said, policy becomes guesswork.

"In August this year, for example, there is no knowledge of labour market developments this year, forcing reliance on estimates rather than real data. In today's data-driven world, timely data is essential for evidence-based decisions," said Hussain.

He said attempts to move the LFS to the revenue budget have dragged on for decades.

"Discussions began as far back as 1995 when the World Bank pushed the need for stable funding. Thirty years later, the recommendation remains unimplemented, and institutional change has yet to occur," he said.

Meanwhile, Fahmida Khatun, executive director of local think tank Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said the state must develop its own capacity and provide funding so that essential surveys like the Labour Force Survey do not remain project-dependent.

"This is one of the major limitations of the BBS, including institutional, financial, and human resource constraints," said the CPD executive director.

"That is why government planners have prioritised strengthening the BBS, with clear recommendations to boost its institutional capacity, finances, and human resources," she added.

Razwanul Islam, former special adviser on employment at the International Labour Office in Geneva, called the suspension "disappointing".

"It is disappointing that the QLFS has been discontinued simply because the project's funding ended."

"Why cannot the LFS be a regular activity of BBS? In many Southeast Asian countries, it has long been done routinely. It is time we do the same," he said.

Islam argued that the stop-start nature of the survey shows the low priority given to employment in policymaking.

"Policy still revolves around GDP growth and inflation, while ignoring employment outcomes. But how can we address growth benefits without reliable, up-to-date labour data?"

Recent findings suggest growth has created little formal employment, with women's opportunities shrinking and youth unemployment worsening. Labour is drifting away from urban formal sectors back to rural and informal ones.

"These employment issues deserve serious attention, and regular LFS is critical at such a time," Islam added.

Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, director general of the BBS, said preparations were underway for a new project to resume the labour survey. "We are preparing to take up a new project again. This year, we already discussed it with our planning adviser," he said.

"If the project is approved, we might provide some estimates on 2025, but actual figures will not be possible. Actual data only comes from field-level collection, which follows existing procedures," said Rahman.

He added that efforts to move the survey to the revenue budget failed because the Finance Division could not allocate the funds required.

"So once again, we are being forced to return to the project-based approach. Our adviser said: fine, prepare another project and bring it forward, we will arrange approval."

Ideally, it should have been under the revenue budget, but that is easier said than done, said the BBS DG.

According to him, strict budget rules also make it difficult.

"To run these surveys, we need to hire outsourced field staff for data collection, and that cannot be covered under the revenue budget. For reasons like this, we have to return to the project route again. The fresh project will be submitted within this month," he added.