Noman Mosharef :
The deadly coronavirus’s severe impact on job seekers may prolong their sufferings and uncertain future. The stall of appointment simply increases the unemployment.
Covid-19 impact on economy has affected the new recruitment in both public and private sectors.
Zubayer Hossain, a post graduate student of Social Science, Department of Dhaka University (DU) attended the various institutions’ recruitment tests for the last four years but in vain. His age limit will be expired in June 2021. In last one year he fried in more than 50 institutions. But due to coronavirus, no institutions held any recruitment test. Now Zubayer is worried about his future.
Another job seeker from Jahangirnagar University, Amit Mahbub said, the coronavirus situation has detached us from the study. Last few years per month expenditure Tk4-5 thousand for application purpose has been fruitless. The hope over age limit is going to end. The frustration is growing in the family and mental pressure.
According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics’s (BBS) labour forces survey 2017, the total unemployment is 27 lakh in the country. Overall unemployment rate 4.2 per cent while youth jobless rate is 11.6 per cent in the country. Coronavirus has accelerated the crisis deeper. Another report published by International Labour Organisation (ILO) says, Covid-19 makes one jobless in every six persons, where-as in Bangladesh it is one in every four persons (27.39 per cent). Before Covid-19 there was 12 jobless in every 100 persons with age group 15-24 and now it is 25 persons.
ILO’s statistics further said about 17 lakh (24.8 per cent) youths have become jobless in last six month. In 2019 it was 11.9 per cent. It said, the unemployment increased in three ways during pandemic. Sacking from workplaces, disruption in education and training, and finally the hindrances in the joining and getting skill process continue.
According to a recent report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on the job market, the job market in Bangladesh has collapsed due to the impact of Corona. Compared to March last year, job advertisements in March this year decreased by 35 per cent. In April, the rate was 87 per cent. Last April, there were 95 job advertisements in the garment and education sectors, 92 in the manufacturing sector and 81 per cent in the health sector. Although information technology is considered a possibility for the future. Job advertisements have decreased by 82 per cent. And 64 per cent job advertisements in NGOs have decreased. The list of unemployed among the educated as well as in the working class is getting longer. Tens of thousands of workers have become unemployed in the garment industry in Corona, according to the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS).
Over the issue Dr Shamsul Alam, a member of Planning Commission, said, the economic revival has not stopped, albeit slowly. As a result, the crisis will be reduced. For this, we have to strengthen the private sector and increase the guarantee of employment.
