Mozidur Rahman Biswas :
Bangladesh, as a country, is facing an unprecedented challenge in dealing with the post-unemployment problem, despite the steady economic growth over the past few years. The employment rate in Bangladesh increased from 3.38 percent in 2010 to 5.3 percent in 2020, according to a statistical index. More specifically, it jumped to 5.3 percent in 2020-the first year of the pandemic-from 4.22 percent in 2019. A World Bank report published in 2019 revealed that 32 percent of public university graduates and 44 percent of private university graduates were without jobs in the country. A survey by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), conducted between February and June this year, found that 66 percent of the graduates of National University are unemployed, those (21 percent) who could manage a job have an average salary of Tk30, 000. Seven percent are still pursuing post-graduation, and only three percent have become entrepreneurs. Another survey jointly conducted by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and Oxfam in Bangladesh found that 61.57percent of working people had lost their jobs in March and April last year due to Covid-related shutdown. Even though 15 percent of them returned to their work in a month, the majority of them remained unemployed for a long time. The poor and the marginalised people faced, and still face, an even higher risk of loss of livelihood.
The pandemic has had a long term negative impact on women’s employment in Bangladesh. A survey conducted by Brac Institute for Governance and Development (BIGD) revealed that one-third of the young working women in the country were out of jobs as of January 2021, when economic activities resumed in Bangladesh. Several reports have shown that, due to Covid-19, income generation among the working class has fallen remarkably, and the economy now has 24.5 million new poor. Besides, over the past two decades, our working age population has increased significantly – from 58 percent to 68 percent. About 30 percent of the population is between 15 and 30 years. If the government takes a comprehensive programme to train and employs them appropriately, the trained people can open up new economic opportunities, when the country is trapped into an economic crisis following the pandemic. A functional approach to expand the job market, foster economic growth and eradicate unemployment would be to attract foreign and domestic investments in various sectors, which is only possible if Bangladesh can create a business-friendly environment in line with global changes.
Very recently in a ROUNDTABLE on FAST -CHANGING POVERTY DYNAMICS, Issues and Priorities by BRAC, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Bangladesh and a English Daily Star jointly organised a webinar, which comprehensively dealt the wide-ranging post-Covid-19 situation of Bangladesh’s economy. A number of intellectuals and professional experts in various strata of economic and social sectors in their deliberations categorically pointed out that the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the plight of the extremely poor people in Bangladesh. Since these people don’t have representation in the parliament and policy-making forums, it is up to the media and the civil society to fight for their issue. The government should direct the same amount of resources as it provides to the private sector to this group of poor people. It is not philanthropy and hand-out but an essential part of the development process. If we subscribe to the motto of the SDGs’ – ‘leave no one behind ‘- then we would see that this is the right time to take such an initiative in the country’s press media houses shall have to provide all kinds of support to make that effort successful. Speakers underlined thoughtful and conceptual ideas on the occasion, and also critically analysed the issue from their own angle marked by wide-ranging mission and vision to deal with the situation pragmatically to resolve the unemployment problem in line with changes across the globe.
(The writer is a senior journalist).
