Rising unemployment

According to the latest census, Bangladesh's youth population has increased by 15.81 per cent to 45.9 million over the last decade. This has provided the country with a great opportunity to make the most out of its working-age population (15 to 64). What is unfortunate, however, is that till now we have largely failed to utilise our workable population due to our inability to create jobs and other opportunities for them. The number of unemployed people in the country rose to 2.59 million in the first quarter (January-March) of 2023, up from 2.32 million in the last quarter of 2022, according to the quarterly data from the Labour Force Survey released recently by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

Many factors are responsible for this situation. Firstly, a lack of employment opportunities is making the problem acuter as the graduates are now unable to find jobs. Secondly, our educational institutions are not providing students with pro-career education. Thirdly, vocational training is inadequate. Our youths do not have enough skills in terms of getting familiar with the latest technology, which is the reason they cannot meet the rising demand for skilled people in the job market. Fourthly, corruption and nepotism have compelled the eligible candidates to remain unemployed for a long period of time.

Last but not least, our younger generation is not yet ready to become entrepreneurs. If they are not encouraged to be entrepreneurs, newer jobs will not be generated. In fact, a lack of financial support prevents them from becoming promising entrepreneurs. The reasons as mentioned above lie behind the growing unemployment in the country. Those should be addressed immediately. We know that the solution cannot be made overnight, but the combined efforts of everyone can pave the way for creating employment, which is a prerequisite for our economic development.

Nargis Sultana,

Assistant Professor,

Department of Finance and Banking,

Comilla University, Cumilla,

nslipa.13@gmail.com