Home ›› 20 Aug 2021 ›› Opinion
Despite significant economic growth in recent times, it has not been thriving in resolving unemployment issues in the country. Bangladesh has been struggling to accommodate productive and decent jobs for its young community. Many low-income people have already returned to the rural areas being incapable to cope up with the pandemic-driven economic quandaries. In the meantime, the sharp declining job market has left many young people ill-fated and as well as frustrated enough. By this time youth employment has appeared as a major economic challenge. The Covid-19 induced unprecedented setbacks have brought a massive shock in the livelihoods of the hard-up and marginalized sections who work in the informal sectors. Consequently, creating employment for the larger unemployed youth and jobless masses is one of the stringent challenges for the country, for now.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many fit workers have lost their jobs in diverse sectors in the country. Opportunities for new jobs have also declined due to the stagnancy in the country’s existent economic sectors centering on business, enterprise, trade, and commerce. Almost 2.2 million workers enter the job market in the country every year. Of these, nearly 7 lakh expatriate workers are deployed in earnings abroad. However, the outbreak of Covid-19 has turned the plight of the unemployed manpower to some greater context both at home and aboard. As a result, the unemployment rate in the country has proportionately escalated.
According to the Report of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) published in 2019, the unemployment rate in Bangladesh is 4.99 percent. And the youth unemployment rate is 11.9 percent, which is more than two and a half times the national average. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), one in six persons in the world has experienced joblessness during the Covid-19 global pandemic, and one in four young individuals in Bangladesh has remained unemployed this time.
The need for the youth’s caliber and talents is incomparable in this ever-changing world. Knowledge involving science, information technology, research, and innovation are the prime mover of the youth force. Projected progress of the country cannot be achieved unless the necessary changes in the integrated development plans for the youth are brought forth. In such a reality, a greater degree of concentration and a holistic approach to convert them as a driving force of our nation is indeed very pivotal.
There is a noticeable gap between the skills required by employers and professionals being produced in our higher educational institutions in the context of the competitive job market. That is why appropriate courses and curricula need to be designed based on professional requirements to meet long-term needs and transform our promising youth as master-class human capital. A globally compatible and impactful education paradigm at the tertiary level can intervene in transforming youth into invaluable human capital. But, in reality, we are even distant from such much-sought education, technology, and innovation. Even many time-required premier technologies are yet out of our reach.
Requisite attention has not been paid to the creation of sustainable youth employment in the country’s existing policies, including the National Youth Policy-2017. Albeit, the policy calls for steps to render employment for the youth, there is no pragmatic plan that can be considered holistically congenial and compatible regarding net youth employment.
An all-inclusive and realistic action plan needs to be adopted to heighten the right set of skills among the youth population. It is also substantial to keep an eye on how the youth folk can become successful entrepreneurs. In this respect, a one-stop service has to be offered to the youth. To continue the tempo of our economic prosperity, the youth must rightfully be utilized and reliance has to be kept upon their unvanquished youth spirit.
The state authorities have to work on the augmentation of life-based skills and the total empowerment of the youth. We might notice that many of the youth have sound knowledge but very often they cannot represent themselves befittingly because of the lack of a life-oriented skill set. For the prior reason, they lag in many cases including the job market. Today’s young people have unlimited potential and they aspire to have the time-requisite new skill set. So, the country needs to arrange ample opportunities for them to be fostered and bloomed properly.
Over and above, to prevent the continuous influx of internal migration to an urban sphere, it is necessary to make our youth self-reliant by providing loans on easy terms and train them in various productive domains. By receiving job-oriented training, along with monetary support—the unemployed youth could be able to generate employment for others, getting themselves employed first. Thus, it is necessary to motivate unemployed youth to be engaged in agriculture, agro-related productions, services, small business enterprises, start-ups, and entrepreneurial ventures to create mass employment in the domestic arena.
The main change in our economy will come at the charismatic hands of the youth. Therefore, GOs and NGOs have to work in a collaborative and coordinated manner for the gross development of the youth. The government has to work to ensure the participation of youth in every development project runs in the country. If we think of being a prosperous developed state, surely we have to work with the youth. If they are at the forefront of all economic activities in the country, then the country will move faster and the economy will boom better.
Skill enhancement and migration, youth mobilization and internationalization, and reformation of technical and vocational training to produce highly trained young manpower—these issues must obtain the highest priority. In this perspective, we hope our think-tanks will incorporate a National Youth Development Policy intending to make the youth top-notch change-makers in the socio-economic context.
If Bangladesh is to benefit satisfactorily from its indomitable youth population to meet the socio-economic goals, budget allocations have to augment for catering education and training, skill development, and expertise enhancement. Not the customary increments in amount, rather the budgetary allocation must appropriately be spent in the right sector. Hence, policymakers deliberately need to adopt that strategic thinking and scenario remaking to approach a long-term future vision. We aspire to dream that heading towards the resilient ventures grounding on the limitless potentials, our promising youth segment will bring the best for the country in the days ahead.
The author is an academic
