The country's 10 manufacturing sectors witness an average of 30 per cent skill gap that also increases with the level of technological sophistication of the industrial sectors, finds a study.
The rate of annual training in these surveyed sectors is lower-only 1.35 per cent than the national average of 3.65 per cent.
Training programmes have been suggested to gradually move towards technologically sophisticated industries as the skill gap was higher for the professionals and technical personnel.
Massive investment in skill development is also required to sustain higher growth, according to the findings of the study.
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) senior research fellow Dr Kazi Iqbal disclosed the statistics while presenting the research findings on the 'Labour Market Studies for SEIP (Skills for Employment Investment Programme) on Skill Demand, Supply and Mismatch' at a dissemination workshop held at Lakeshore Hotel in the city on Sunday.
Planning Minister MA Mannan as the chief guest attended the workshop chaired by BIDS director general Dr Binayak Sen.
National Skills Development Authority (NSDA) executive chairman Nasreen Afroz and Member (Secretary) of Industry and Energy Division, Planning Commission, Dr Mohammad Emdad Ullah Mian, among others, also spoke.
SEIP project under the finance ministry has commissioned BIDS to conduct the study.
BIDS produced 14 research reports - 10 sectoral reports, and each on macro framework, identification of five additional sectors with growing training demand, TVET and international labour market.
The 10 sectors include agro-food processing, healthcare, hospitality and tourism, RMG and textile, constructions, leather, light engineering, shipbuilding, IT and electronics while the five potential ones are-furniture, jute, pharmaceuticals, plastic and renewable energy.
Regarding sectoral studies, a total of 1,138 enterprises and 7,018 workers were surveyed.
Citing the present scenario of the readymade garment (RMG) sector, the study said that female workers were more proficient than male workers in female- dominant industries and skill gap was also found to be higher for senior level technical positions.
The study revealed that 53.74 per cent out of the 119 surveyed RMG enterprises face skill gaps in general.
In terms of categories, skill gaps faced by enterprises are as follows: lockstitch machine operator (74.65 per cent firms), flatlock machine operator (72.31 per cent firms), overlock machine operator (66.99 per cent firms), printing machine operator (66.67 per cent firms), quality inspector (64.91 per cent firms), chain stitch machine operator (63.48 per cent firms), embroidery machine operator (62.50 per cent firms), iron man/woman (60.3 per cent firms), quality controller (57.23 per cent firms) and feed of the arm machine operator (56.64 per cent firms).
The study covered 117 agro processing enterprises with 41,546 employees and found a total export to output ratio per enterprise around 3.0 per cent.
"It means that only 3.0 per cent of the total outputs of the 117 agro processing enterprises are exported. The enterprises agreed that the current employees have a skill gap," the report said.
Reports found higher skill gap existed for higher paid jobs like managers and professionals.
In the existing labour categories of the construction sector, other than the employees for senior management and support staff, all the other ones seem to have a skill gap, it said.
Evidence from service sector like tourism and hotels suggested that soft skills can be taught; hence it should be a part of the training programme.
It said that alignment of education and skill development policies with industrial policy was important to lessen the skill gap.
Speaking at the workshop, the minister admitted that there exists lack of coordination among different skill development measures and added the private sector, government and academia should join hands to develop human capital in the country.
He said that the government was working on education to make it demand driven.
There is no conflict between development and good governance, he said, adding "Both the development and good governance are necessary but I will say development should be the first priority then governance."
Mr Sen said skill was not a constraint for Bangladesh in achieving economic growth exaltation as there were many scopes for the country to go forward with low skills through RMG sector, agriculture and expatriate workers.
"Now skills in Bangladesh are graduating to a higher level and I think the availability of higher skill can be a binding constraint for Bangladesh for next one decade. And it is one of the impressive messages of the study," he noted.
Planning Commission member Mr Mian said coordination among the corporate culture, corporate governance and the government policy was important to reap the benefits of demographic dividend.
Dhaka University economics department Professor Sayema Haque Bidisha opined that skill training would not bring required results without ensuring quality education in all levels.
She suggested conducting another study on how to establish synergy between skill development policy and industrial policy.
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