In February 2025 (Q1), the working age population (16 years and above) was around 8.4 million of whom around 4.7 million were employed, 593 thousand were unemployed, and 3.1 million were out of labour force.
The labour force comprises 5.3 million people, which includes both the employed and unemployed population. The proportion of working age population who were in the labour force has steadily increased since 2022.
TABLE 1: Distribution of employed population (,000) by status in employment as per ICSE-93
Status in employment |
2020Q1 |
2021Q1 |
2022Q1 |
2023Q1 |
2024Q1 |
2025Q1 | % change 2024Q1- 2025Q1 |
| Total | 3,569 | 3,205 | 3,586 | 3,804 | 4,366 | 4,730 | 8.4% |
| Employee | 2,449 | 2,400 | 2,696 | 2,664 | 3,036 | 3,176 | 4.6% |
| Employer | 46 | 31 | 57 | 64 | 77 | 101 | 31.3% |
| Own account worker | 923 | 719 | 769 | 965 | 1,123 | 1,244 | 10.8% |
| Member of cooperative | 9 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 82.7% |
| Contributing familyworker | 143 | 50 | 62 | 104 | 128 | 205 | 60.5% |
In February 2025, it was estimated to be 63.0 % which is 2 percentage points higher than the estimated value in February 2024 (61.0 %). The rate of the population outside labour force decreased to 37 % in February 2025 (Q1) from 39 % in February 2024 (Q1).
TABLE 2: Distribution of employed population (,000) by occupations
| MajorOccupation group | 2022Q1 | 2023Q1 | 2024Q1 | 2025Q1 | %change |
| 2024Q1-2025Q1 | |||||
| Total | 3,586 | 3,804 | 4,366 | 4,730 | 8.4% |
| Managers | 44 | 31 | 61 | 47 | -23.8% |
| Professionals | 211 | 202 | 284 | 267 | -5.7% |
| Technicians and associate professionals | 25 | 27 | 67 | 79 | 17.2% |
| Clerical support workers | 24 | 34 | 46 | 44 | -4.7% |
| Service and sales workers | 507 | 675 | 700 | 895 | 27.9% |
| Skilled agricultural, forestry and fisheryworkers | 160 | 211 | 289 | 350 | 21.1% |
| Craft andrelated trades workers | 254 | 285 | 319 | 363 | 13.7% |
| Plant and machine operators and assemblers | 99 | 106 | 123 | 142 | 14.8% |
| Elementary occupations | 2261 | 2233 | 2476 | 2544 | 2.7% |
Generally, the labour force participation rate has been higher among the male than the female population over time. In February 2021 (Q1), the gender gap in labour force participation rate was approximately 13 percentage points, it decreased by 1.6 percentage points as compared to the same quarter one year back.
Employment
The employment-to-population ratio (EPR) increased to 56 % in February 2025 (Q1) from 53.1 % in February 2024 (Q1). EPR increased for both males and females, by 2.1 and 3.5 percentage points respectively. In February 2025 (Q1), males had a higher EPR (63 %) compared to females (49.8 %).
Additionally, the EPR was higher among adults aged 31 years old and above (60.1 %) than among youth aged 16-30 years old (50.5 %). The gender gap in the employment to population ratio was 13.2 percentage points in February 2025 (Q1) and it declined by 1.4 percentage points as compared to February 2024 (Q1).
Unemployment
In February 2025 (Q1), the unemployment rate stood at 11.1 % indicating that roughly for every 9 persons in the labour force, there was one person unemployed. This reflects a 1.8 percentage points decrease compared to the same quarter last year; and it was relatively lower as compared to the pre-COVID-19 estimate in the same quarter February 2020 (13.1 %).
In February 2025 (Q1), the unemployment rate was higher among females (12.5 %) compared to males (9.9 %). Youth also experienced a higher unemployment rate (13.6 %) compared to adults (9.5 %). The unemployment was relatively even in rural areas (11 %) and in urban areas (11.5%).
Labour underutilization
The unemployment rate is not the only component of the unmet needs for employment. They are other components including time-related underemployment and potential labour force.
The labour underutilization rate stood at 53.7 % in February 2025 (Q1). It was higher among females (59.8 %) than among males (47.2 %) and higher among youth (54.5 %) than adults (53.1 %). The labour underutilization rate increased by 4.2 percentage points in February 2025 (Q1) as compared to the same quarter of the previous year.