Unemployment on the rise in Bangladesh, is there a real solution?
Unemployment problem is a critical issue acting as a major socioeconomic bottleneck that is hampering our GDP growth, exacerbating poverty, and fueling social unrest among a large, young population. With high youth and graduate unemployment rates, it leads to a "skills gap," squanders the nation's demographic dividend, and causes significant mental health issues, making it a threat to long-term economic stability.
‘Unemployment’ is the most uttered word in the socio-economic sphere in Bangladesh since the very beginning of the country as an independent one. No doubt it is a critical issue acting as a major socioeconomic bottleneck that is hampering our GDP growth, exacerbating poverty, and fueling social unrest among a large, young population. With high youth and graduate unemployment rates, it leads to a "skills gap," squanders the nation's demographic dividend, and causes significant mental health issues, making it a threat to long-term economic stability.
According to the latest quarterly labour force survey by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the country's unemployment rate stood at 4.63% in the October–December quarter of the current fiscal year as per the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) standards.
Data from the Daily Star says, in the July-September quarter of fiscal year 2024-25, the unemployment rate was 4.49 percent. With this, the number of unemployed people rose to 2.7 million in 2024, up from 2.55 million the previous year.
The overall unemployment rate last year was 4.48 percent, compared to 4.15 percent in 2023.
It is true that there is a severe gap between the skills the job market demands and what graduates possess, especially technical and vocational skills, but higher domestic interest rates, inflation, and weak investment growth are cited as the prime movers why businesses are not hired at desired levels. Human capital gets wasted, especially when educated youth remain jobless for long periods.
However, no problem lasts forever; cautiously planned measures can yield real solutions. Diversifying the economy beyond RMG to higher-value manufacturing, ICT, agro-processing, tourism, and green industries can be the game changer. At the same time, strengthening technical, digital, and soft skills and vocational training would help the youths to find a source of livelihood. As SMEs in our country have been engines of employment at grassroots levels, they need access to finance, technology, and markets. Improving the business climate, such as regulatory transparency, infrastructure, and trade access could stimulate foreign and domestic investment and further expand the job market.
The scarcity of jobs for the educated youth creates significant frustration, resulting in increased crime, social unrest, and political instability.
To get rid of the terrible curse of unemployment, the entire nation must work together in unison and effective steps must be taken through public-private initiatives.