Govt to set up ‘Directorate of Employment’ for new job creation

The government has taken initiatives to establish a "Directorate of Employment" with an aim to create more employment opportunities and improve labour conditions.

"For the purpose of new employment generation and creating a central database with education and training facilities, steps are being taken to establish the Directorate of Employment," Finance minister AH Mustafa Kamal said in his proposed budget speech for FY2022-23.

Earlier, sources in the Labour and Employment Ministry informed The Business Standard that a separate department under the ministry will be created to work on generating local employment.

The Finance minister noted that the government has plans to raise information and communication technology-based employment to 30 lakh by 2025.

In his speech, the minister said that the government will accelerate its initiatives to abolish child labour and ensure due wages for women workers in the upcoming days.

Meanwhile, continuous inspection of the factories is being done to identify the risks and insert them in the National Work-Plan for Bangladesh Labour Sector 2021-2026.

Minister Mustafa Kamal also noted that the 2.5% incentive for the remittance sector will continue in next the fiscal year.

With a view to encouraging remittance through legal channels, Bangladesh Bank raised the rate of incentives by 0.5 percentage points to 2.5 percent from January 2022.