Skills gap key challenge for construction sector

Bangladesh’s construction sector has expanded exponentially in the last decade, but the lack of locally available skilled manpower remains a major challenge for the industry.

Findings of a survey by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) further show that the sector accounted for around eight per cent of the country’s GDP in 2021.

The BIDS will publish the study officially at a programme titled, “Dissemination Workshop on the Research Findings of the Labor Market Studies for SEIP,” to be organised at a city hotel on Sunday.

Planning Minister MA Mannan will attend the event as chief guest, while National Skills Development Authority (NSDA) Executive Chairman (Secretary) Nasreen Afroz will be there as the special guest. BIDS Director General Dr Binayak Sen will chair the programme.

Aside from the skills gap, the study identified a number of other challenges in the construction sector, especially – the lack of knowledge about Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC)’s standards and National Labour Law.

The industry also faces challenges from the standard using procedures of construction tools, shortages in necessary working experience and training, and absence of skilled trainers, and a lack of minimal education needed for a successful construction project. A lack of stimulatory and supporting pay for the workers, as well the need for increasing demand for skilled and high skilled workers as opposed to current minimum competency levels are also major issues.

Bangladesh’s construction industry grew at an annual rate of roughly 8.69 per cent in FY06, but that rate dropped to 6.95 per cent in FY11, indicating a relatively downward trend throughout those years, mentions the study.

Due to huge infrastructure investments and a rapid surge in housing demand, the situation began to shift in FY12 and jumped to 8.42 per cent, after which it has remained stable at around 8 per cent.

It then rose to roughly 9.92 per cent in FY18 and 10.25 per cent in 2019, an all-time high in the construction industry since FY06.

From 1999 to 2000, total construction sector employment was around 1.13 million which increased to 2.6 million in FY10, which eventually stood at 2.4 million in FY17 and employment in the construction sector occupied 5.6 per cent of the total employed population.

The present scenario depicts that only 37.5 per cent of the construction workers are skilled and 12.6 per cent have advanced skills.

Moreover, only 7.8 per cent of the entire workforce is female workers in the construction industry and the majority of them are involved in low-skilled jobs and only seen in a few occupations.

And between 1976 and 2016, there were more than 10.45 million registered migrant workers, with over half of them classed as “less-skilled,” 15.2 per cent as “semi-skilled,” and 32.5 per cent as “skilled.” Only 2 per cent of the migrant workers were professionals.

To hone the skills of the workers, training is essential. But only 6.45 per cent of construction workers receive occupational training, while the remaining 93.55 per cent do not receive any work-related training.

This untrained workforce could be detrimental to the construction project in a variety of ways.

In the study, the BIDS recommended formal education in colleges and universities reorganising the needs of current times. To keep up with the demand, the teacher training curriculum should be revised regularly.

The gap between the educational system and the labour market should be reduced by a proper Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system which must be easily accessible and free of cost, relatively inexpensive for the majority, and relevant to labour demands.

In this regard, the partnership between private organisations and government agencies is essential, the BIDS report points out.