Home ›› 30 Oct 2022 ›› Special Supplement
With one-fourth (amounting to around 46 million) of its population aged between 15-29 years, Bangladesh is passing its best time ever in terms of the quality and young labour force, which is being termed as the demographic dividend.
At the same time, tension has risen to manage or employ these huge segments in the existing employment market fruitfully. But the country’s present employment market is in peculiar nature. Like, individuals here who are pursuing higher education are facing more unemployment risks.
According to several reports including that of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies and the International Labour Organisation, unemployment among educated people is one of the highest in the world.
They do not get formal jobs two-three years after their graduation, burning the midnight oil studying for government jobs that can capacitate only 8-10 per cent of the aspirants.
Afterwards, they are not eligible for private jobs due to age and quality. It turns a sort of discredit for them, creating a circle of unemployment. There are two reasons behind this — one is the obsession with government jobs and the other is the lack of relevant skills.
But the unemployment rate among those who have no or up to the secondary level of education is truly low.
Jobs are available but the factor is efficiency. Nearly 50–60 per cent of the unemployed are fresh graduates. In Dhaka, we don’t find staff for an e-commerce delivery service where a young man can earn Tk 25,000-30,000, for which he only needs a bicycle. The unemployment rate is more acute in rural areas, apart from the seasonal harvesting times.
An educated man is unwilling to do any available jobs that are less accepted or recognised in our society. They lack that mentality. The number of graduates with the mentality to do these jobs is ultimately very low. Most of them want government jobs. If they were not highly educated, they could have easily entered the garment sector or even driven cars for Uber.
They are inclined to embrace wrong motivations arising from societal practices to admit to university and then pursue government jobs after graduation. The more a youth is educated, the probability of him/her remaining unemployed is higher — this should not happen.
The solution is diverting those who are being educated in general lines to technical lines. The unemployment rate for technical students is low. Over the last 15-20 years, a huge volume of BBA graduates has been created and most of them remained unemployed while textile and technical students get jobs right after graduation or sometimes even before graduation.
The private universities care little about whether their students get formal jobs or not, they are just producing BBA graduates. Most of the private universities take 50 per cent of their total enrolments in BBA programmes. This is absurd.
The University Grant Commission should have given instructions to private universities that they should not allow more the 20 per cent of their total enrolments in BBA programmes. These universities should produce more technical/engineering graduates.
Thankfully, the government is establishing technical universities which will be good for employment. On top of that, the government can include some technical curriculum in the BBA programmes, so that students can also learn some technical knowledge using which they can find jobs in another respective field.
At the rate at which our economy has grown over the last 15 years, two sectors — manufacturing and agriculture — have grown in parallel, creating more jobs and becoming the driving force of our economy.
Every year, 3-4 lakh graduates are coming out of our universities. But the tendency of entering these two sectors has not been seen. But those who have been doing well.
But the social perspective is not still recognised there. We have created such a society where unemployment after graduation has been taken for granted. The graduate-unemployment rate is higher than ever as the country is producing more graduates than it needs.
The interesting thing is that still there are many companies that graduates do not join even after being selected. They all want to land government jobs. This tendency has grown 5-10 times compared to what it was over 15-20 years ago. This became more acute after the government upgraded the national pay scale in 2015.
The government has almost doubled the salaries of public servants, which is higher than many private jobs, thinking this would boost productivity and reduce corruption. But the pay hike has only increased the corrupt officials’ legal income alongside their rising illegal income.
Meanwhile, we are receiving remittances but it’s not what it could be because of our workers’ lack of skills. Less skilled labours should not be sent abroad and the migration costs need to go down. The government needs to take care of it and send only skilled resources abroad so that they can earn more money.
Recommendations
I must say that the government should incentivise private firms. If any company hires a fresh graduate, the government can give an internship allowance for the employee or give at least 50–60 per cent of six months’ salary. This will help create better jobs, the graduates will become more skilled to benefit the companies, and reduce the skill gap.
Most private firms don’t want to hire fresh graduates because they are usually not ready or skilled enough for the industry. If the government incentivises, they will be inclined to start hiring such graduates and train them.
Besides, special tax benefits can be given to the company for three years if they employ people with disabilities. Many countries have already introduced this system.
Meanwhile, the gig economy has created a massive number of workers. Many of them are even earning foreign currencies while working from home.
Their employment condition has to be improved. They need basic investment. For example, if riders working for ride-sharing apps are given loans for bikes, they can work and repay the money within three months. It won’t be a donation but a loan. So, gig workers can be brought under micro-credit. This will expand opportunities in our gig economy.
If micro-merchants create opportunities or expand, they also can create more employment.
SMEs are the country’s largest employment-generating sector. But there is almost no connection between the banks and the SMEs. The government has given various benefits to the industry and the central bank has introduced a 9 per cent interest rate on loans. But the banks are only disbursing loans to big companies.
SMEs cannot afford a loan at this interest rate, as it does not go with their operating costs. They are also not getting stimulus loans. There is a need for a structural change to reduce the interest gap.
According to Bangladesh Bank’s loan policy, SMEs must have trade licences to get loans but that is impossible for at least 90 per cent of SMEs as those are mostly small, micro, and cottage industries. We have to take progressive steps to address this issue.
Simplification of documentation can be another initiative. Arrangements have to be in place so that SMEs can get loans within two-three days based on their MFS transactions, instead of securities and mortgages. The loan volume may not be high. It can be up to Tk 1 lakh. We can use fintech to solve this SME problem.
Moreover, the government should prioritise and expand technical education. The technical curriculum should be included in general education. Like, a BBA graduate should know how to rear cattle or operate a machine at factories.
We can create a 30 per cent quota in the BCS for vocational and technical students as most of the graduates are entering the job market without acquiring the required skills.
AKM Fahim Masroor is the CEO and co-founder of Bdjobs.com
Transcribed by Shamim Ahmed
