Dhaka, Jan. 12 -- Employment continues to rank among the top concerns for citizens in Bangladesh, with growing expectations that political parties will present clear and actionable plans ahead of the upcoming national election, speakers said at a dialogue.

The dialogue was jointly organized by Democracy International (DI) and The Business Standard (TBS) on Monday (12 January 2026) in Dhaka, a media release said.

According to an opinion poll conducted by Democracy International in November 2025, 40.4 percent of respondents reported that they were not better off than a year earlier. Reduced income opportunities (27.4 percent) and rising commodity prices (17 percent) were cited as the main reasons.

The survey further found that 37.2 perce...