A look into rising unemployment among educated youth

Just a few days ago, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) has come up with the findings of a new survey. The survey was conducted from February to June this year involving students of 54 government and private colleges of the country functioning under the National University who have completed their Honors and Post-Graduation in 2017. According to the survey report, 66 per cent or two-thirds of the students who have passed from the colleges affiliated to the National University are unemployed at the moment. Meanwhile, according to another study titled ‘Employment and unemployment amongst educated youth in Bangladesh’ conducted by BIDS, unemployment rate among Bachelor’s degree holders is 36.6 per cent whereas the rate among Master's degree holders stands at 34.3 per cent.

One thing is clear from these stats – unemployment rate among the educated youth is rising day by day. But, why is it so? The traditional perception is that someone having a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree will be eligible enough to get a job anywhere (that goes with his/her qualifications). In reality, the opposite is happening. If we try to put our finger on what is wrong with so many educated graduates, we could figure out a few answers.

The very first reason is the fact that the curriculum the universities (including National University) are following is not appropriate if we consider the market trends of this era. One serious problem with our curriculum is that it’s not changed or modified on a regular basis taking the academic necessities of the age into account. As a result, students keep reading the same old things, many of which are already obsolete in our present context. For instance – students getting enrolled in the English department of different private and public universities are reading the same old literature even now whereas the inclusion of modern and post-modern writers is a necessity. Even reading these writers only is not enough for English graduates to get good jobs in the current scenario. This calls for some modifications in the curriculum and the syllabus must be designed in a new way so that graduates can learn things that will help them compete in the job market. In reality, this is not happening.

The most significant reason is that graduates are not well-equipped for the job market. Two things are contributing to this problem – a serious mismatch between what the educational institutions are teaching and what the employers are looking for among the job aspirants, and lack of future-fit or job-oriented skills.

Whether you admit it or not, the fact is that job market has changed drastically over the last few years, so have the demands of the employers. Meanwhile, the current job market is driven by business trends around the world. So, with every passing day, new things are popping up that are shaping up the business world and the job market in a greater sense. As a candidate, you also need to keep up with the times and morph yourself accordingly so that you know what’s going on in the job market. Employers while hiring people keep those changes in mind and look for candidates who will possess the qualities that correspond to the market trends. Unfortunately, our educational institutes do not have any idea about these market trends, so there is a huge gap between what the employers look for in candidate and what the teachers teach to the learners. At the end, it gets evident that the candidates don’t have the acumen and acuity necessary to get a job in this competitive market.

Moreover, job aspirants also lack future-fit skills or expertise someone needs to thrive in the present-day job context. This is an age that is largely driven by digital trends. Meanwhile, as the pandemic has forced many to adopt new techniques to carry on their works, modern workplaces are heavily reliant on digital activities. Digital transformation is catalyzing changes in the modern-day workplaces, meaning that the employees require a whole new set of skills to adopt to these workplaces. If the candidates do not possess those qualities and skills, their possibility of getting a job diminishes to a great extent. Candidates not willing to develop those market-oriented skills or unaware of those demands ultimately lag behind in the race.

Even the teachers are not, in many instances, qualified enough to get their head around these changes, let alone prepare their students. Dearth of quality teachers is also one of the major reasons why our graduates are not getting jobs. In order to instill good values and skills in the students, the teachers themselves must keep tabs on recent market practices and have clear notions about the changes that are going on in the market. Unfortunately, most of the teachers are reluctant to come out of the bubbles they live in and try something new that will be beneficial for the students in the long run.

Last but not least, personal branding has turned out to be a deciding factor in this age. There are many companies and employers who hire people following different business and employment-oriented online services like LinkedIn. That’s why, personal branding has become vital for the job aspirants. Candidates who want to create good impression and give a precise overview of the skills he/she possess, they must maintain and develop their accounts with handy information related to their area of interest, experience and skills on different professional networking sites. When you are looking for a job, you must remember that only reading your text books and getting the gist by heart is not going to help you get a job, rather you need to be more informed and look around you to realize the changes that are determining the job market and prepare yourself accordingly.

The writer is a freelance contributor