Al Amin :
Rising unemployment, despite significant economic growth, is a big challenge for the country’s economy as employment is the main source of earning and livelihood for most of the people.
The massive shock of the Covid-19 pandemic and shutdown measures have plunged the country’s economy into a severe contraction, wiping out thousands of jobs.
The latest survey of the government has found 2.6 million unemployed people in the country and the ratio is increasing gradually due to the shock of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr Ahsan H Mansur, Executive Director of Policy Research Institution (PRI), told The New Nation, at least 1.3 to1.5 crore people had become unemployed at the beginning (in March-April) of the ongoing pandemic and at least 30 per cent of them are still jobless as the business activities are yet to be resumed fully across the country.
He further said wages of the people, especially in the service sector, have been reduced, although they have returned to their jobs from the last couple of months.
Terming the unemployment a big challenge, he said the government must take proper measures to control Covid-19, stimulus packages should be implemented properly and disbursement of loan for SME sector must be increased to face the challenge.
Dr Zahid Hossain, former lead Economist of the World Bank of Dhaka Office, said incomes of the people, who have returned to their work in formal sector including RMG, have been reduced at least 40 per cent from the normal time.
“Though the employment has increased in the E-Commerce sector slightly, but it is not sufficient and the uncertainty is still remaining in the formal sector due to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic,” he added.
“Being the informal sector is the worst victim of the ongoing pandemic, a large number of people have become unemployed from the sector and still are suffering from it,” he added.
The country has failed to create adequate jobs, especially for the rising young population and the job market is rather shrinking as capital-intensive industries are taking over the places of labour-intensive industries.
According to the latest data of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) the unemployment rate was 4.2 per cent in
2019. The rural areas have 1.82 million unemployed people, more than double the number of those 0.77 million, in urban areas, the data said. The urban-rural population ratio is 30:70 in Bangladesh.
Analysts observe that the unemployed population should be higher than what was shown in the survey.
Although Bangladesh’s private sector creates more employment opportunities than the public sector, private investment as percentage of gross domestic product has remained stalled for quite some time — a stagnation which is a major reason for high unemployment rate.
There is a need for raising number of women as workforce in the formal sector to benefit the economy, they said.
Meanwhile, the country’s garment sector is facing shortage of skilled manpower. Skilled technical experts are being hired from abroad and the right kind of skills is seldom available to capitalise on the country’s potential, despite having a young and vibrant population.
In the Seventh Five Year Plan (SFYP), the government set the target of job creation of 10.29 million (including 0.20 million migrants) during FY 2016 to FY 2020 but the actual achievement so far made.
Rising unemployment, despite significant economic growth, is a big challenge for the country’s economy as employment is the main source of earning and livelihood for most of the people.
The massive shock of the Covid-19 pandemic and shutdown measures have plunged the country’s economy into a severe contraction, wiping out thousands of jobs.
The latest survey of the government has found 2.6 million unemployed people in the country and the ratio is increasing gradually due to the shock of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr Ahsan H Mansur, Executive Director of Policy Research Institution (PRI), told The New Nation, at least 1.3 to1.5 crore people had become unemployed at the beginning (in March-April) of the ongoing pandemic and at least 30 per cent of them are still jobless as the business activities are yet to be resumed fully across the country.
He further said wages of the people, especially in the service sector, have been reduced, although they have returned to their jobs from the last couple of months.
Terming the unemployment a big challenge, he said the government must take proper measures to control Covid-19, stimulus packages should be implemented properly and disbursement of loan for SME sector must be increased to face the challenge.
Dr Zahid Hossain, former lead Economist of the World Bank of Dhaka Office, said incomes of the people, who have returned to their work in formal sector including RMG, have been reduced at least 40 per cent from the normal time.
“Though the employment has increased in the E-Commerce sector slightly, but it is not sufficient and the uncertainty is still remaining in the formal sector due to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic,” he added.
“Being the informal sector is the worst victim of the ongoing pandemic, a large number of people have become unemployed from the sector and still are suffering from it,” he added.
The country has failed to create adequate jobs, especially for the rising young population and the job market is rather shrinking as capital-intensive industries are taking over the places of labour-intensive industries.
According to the latest data of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) the unemployment rate was 4.2 per cent in
2019. The rural areas have 1.82 million unemployed people, more than double the number of those 0.77 million, in urban areas, the data said. The urban-rural population ratio is 30:70 in Bangladesh.
Analysts observe that the unemployed population should be higher than what was shown in the survey.
Although Bangladesh’s private sector creates more employment opportunities than the public sector, private investment as percentage of gross domestic product has remained stalled for quite some time — a stagnation which is a major reason for high unemployment rate.
There is a need for raising number of women as workforce in the formal sector to benefit the economy, they said.
Meanwhile, the country’s garment sector is facing shortage of skilled manpower. Skilled technical experts are being hired from abroad and the right kind of skills is seldom available to capitalise on the country’s potential, despite having a young and vibrant population.
In the Seventh Five Year Plan (SFYP), the government set the target of job creation of 10.29 million (including 0.20 million migrants) during FY 2016 to FY 2020 but the actual achievement so far made.
