A total of 468,220 vacant positions exist in various ministries, divisions and offices and the government has adopted a plan to fill those up, parliament was told on Sunday.
State Minister for Public Administration Md Abdul Bari Sunday disclosed the government recruitment move in response to a question from Chattogram-13 lawmaker Sarwar Jamal Nizam during the 11th sitting of the second session and first budget session of the 13th Jatiya Sangsad.
"The government has adopted short-, medium- and long-term plans to fill the vacancies," he told the House, presided over by Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed Bir Bikram.
According to the minister, the figure is based on the Statistics of Public Servants 2024, which was prepared using updated manpower data as of December 31, 2023.
Of the total vacant posts, 68,884 are in the first-class category (Grades 1-9), while 129,166 exist in the second-class category (Grades 10-12).
The highest number of vacancies is in the class-three category (Grades 13-16), where 146,799 posts remain unfilled. Another 115,235 vacancies exist in the class-four category (Grades 17-20).
In addition, 8,936 positions under honorary, fixed-pay and other contractual categories are currently vacant.
To address the staffing shortage, the government has adopted a phased-recruitment strategy.
Under the short-term plan, recruitment to 2,879 vacant posts under the Ministry of Public Administration will be completed within next six months. A further 4,459 positions are expected to be filled within one year, while recruitment to 3,110 additional posts will be completed over the next five years under a long-term plan.
"The government has formulated its recruitment strategy with the goal of appointing around 500,000 public employees in a transparent and efficient manner," Abdul Bari told parliament.
He adds that the Ministry of Public Administration has already asked all ministries and divisions to submit updated information on their vacant posts and the status of ongoing recruitment processes to facilitate the implementation of the plan.
The government views the recruitment drive as a key step toward strengthening public service delivery and addressing workforce shortages across various sectors of the administration.
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