72.71% with disabilities not employed: BBS

In Bangladesh, 72.71 per cent of the persons with disabilities aged 15-65 are unemployed, a survey has found.

The findings of the 2021 National Survey on Persons with Disabilities (NSPD) released recently show 59.48 per cent of the males with disabilities and 92.7 per cent of the females with disabilities are not in work.

The survey results came at a time when Bangladesh is working towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that prescribe full and productive employment and decent work for all.

Most of the persons with disabilities remain excluded from the mainstream national development initiatives due to negative attitudes and practices perpetuated by poverty, the survey said.

It also said the employment sector is one of the primary development components where persons with disabilities are widely excluded.

Md Mohoram Ali, 36, who moves in a wheelchair, has LLB and LLM degrees and around 12 years of work experience. Despite this, he is now unemployed.

“I am trying to get a job, but no employers have responded yet,” he told The Business Post.

Talking about persons with disabilities, he said, “Even if we meet employers’ expectations, they do not want to recruit us most of the time.”

Mohoram further said persons with disabilities mostly do project-based work and face long-term unemployment when projects end. “That is the situation I am facing now.”

The NSPD found that 80.22 per cent of the unemployed persons with disabilities live in Sylhet, the highest among eight divisions. It also found the majority (54.94 per cent) of the persons with disabilities are self-employed, with 47.59 per cent of them living in urban areas and 56.15 per cent in villages.

Besides, 18.32 per cent of the persons with disabilities work for households and 16.34 per cent for non-governmental or private organisations while 1.56 per cent have government jobs.

Jahirul Islam, founder of Team Inclusion Bangladesh Foundation, told The Business Post the majority of the persons with disabilities face problems in working in office environments due to a lack of specialised and soft skills as well as psychological counselling.

“At the same time, a lack of reasonable accommodations, decent work environments, and proper infrastructure are the major reasons behind their unemployment,” he said.

Creating internship opportunities would be a major step towards creating more jobs for the persons with disabilities as interns could learn the required basic, advanced, and soft skills, Jahirul added.

DBL Group Managing Director MA Jabbar told The Business Post his companies had already recruited persons with disabilities and they were performing well in their jobs.

He described tax rebates proposed in the national budget for recruiting such workers as a great initiative that would encourage companies.

In the proposed budget for FY23, the government has expanded the existing tax incentives for the employers of persons with disabilities or third gender people.

Employers recruiting 10 per cent or over 25 third gender people or persons with disabilities will enjoy 75 per cent of salaries paid to these people or 5 per cent of the tax payable, whichever is less, as tax rebates, the finance minister said in his budget speech.

“We expect the government will take more policies like this,” said Jabbar.

He said some companies had already sought information from him about the hiring process of persons with disabilities and their engagement with co-workers.

Sheikh HM Mustafiz, managing director of Cute Dress Industry, said five persons with disabilities work at his company and they are loyal as well as sincere.

He said a change in attitude towards recruiting such workers was more important because the proposed tax rebates were too small to encourage employers.