Currently, unemployed youths are more interested in getting government jobs rather than private sector ones because of higher salaries, job security and corruption. Even a decade ago, unemployed graduates preferred jobs in multinational companies or banks but now they prepare themselves to be successful in the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) exams to get into public service. This is because the salaries of the government jobs doubled in 2015 but the payment in private sector jobs has remained the same as before, say experts. On top of it the show of power and corruption is no less an attraction for government jobs. The corruption side of government jobs is the hidden attraction. The government servants have learned, without political leadership, the country is for them to exploit.
According to a news report published in a national daily on Sunday, experts, former bureaucrats and business leaders told a discussion that 38 out of 100 surveyed employers informed that they could not offer jobs to unemployed youths because of their lack of skills. The employers claimed that they struggled to get eligible candidates. Our education system is going aimless. One gets the impression education or special skills are not needed for easy government jobs.
The discussion was organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in collaboration with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) on Saturday in the capital. Bangladesh Public Service Commission (BPSC) officials also informed that over 5 million employment aspirants applied for six categories of government jobs last year, breaking all previous records. Experts think, although getting a government job takes a long time, a handsome salary and other facilities have played a major role behind the rush for such jobs. According to them, there are nearly 2.4 million unemployed graduates in the country. A former cabinet secretary, who joined the discussion, said the youths are now more interested in government jobs due to the addition of various facilities in recent times. Apart from doubling of salaries, other facilities and pensions were also raised.
Such an inclination for government jobs however is not a good sign, they think, underscoring the need for government initiatives to create entrepreneurship. On the other hand, an International Labour Organisation (ILO) report said, the number of unemployed youths may hit 3 million this year. Bangladesh ranks third among the eight south Asian countries in terms of unemployment rate. Unemployment of educated youths cannot be reduced if enough jobs are not created in both public and private sectors. We observed that many young unemployed people who are among the most intelligent are also reluctant to start businesses, fearing corruption and other related problems such as having to pay bribe. Since information technology has touched every aspect of our life, the government should take skills development programmes, eliminating all barriers on the way to entrepreneurship.
