In a densely-populated poverty stricken country like Bangladesh, employment concerns must figure prominently in any efforts at planned development. Concern for employment primarily arises from two considerations: first, because employment is considered the main vehicle for distributing income among the poor, and second, because the existence of unemploy- ment and underemployment represents an inefficient allocation of investible resources. Sound employment policies, therefore, need to be based on an understanding of the nature of the poverty-employment link as well as the issues related to the criteria for investment allo- cation and an appropriate choice of technology.
An essential prerequisite for integrating employment concerns into development planning, at the level of plan formulation, is the availability of sufficient infor- mation on variuos aspects of employment and unemploy-