Govt unlikely to achieve 2030 employment target

The current trend in industrialisation and job creation is unlikely to deliver even half of the target of creating 30 million jobs by 2030, which was the 2018 election pledge of the ruling party, reveals a research conducted by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).

The research findings were published yesterday at a hotel in the capital, jointly arranged by the CPD and the Asia Foundation, with support of the Citizen's Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh.

At the dialogue on the Role of Public Service Delivery in Ensuring Employment for the Marginalised Youth Community, CPD Chairman Dr Rehman Sobhan recommended formulation of an employment policy related to comprehensive well-celebrative market.

He said the government should play a vital role to generate employment and provide equal access for all to jobs in the public sector.

He also recommended introducing a mandatory employment programme for all of the youth population.

"Both the government and private sector that built ample technical training centres have failed to provide skilled human resources for the job market, leading to a discrepancy in demand and supply," Rehman Sobhan said, and also recommended providing training as required.

He also said performance of the macroeconomy and economic management should be measured by the number of job creation instead of the growth of Gross Domestic Production of the country.

"The finance minister should declare the target of job creation in the next fiscal year when he presents the national budget in parliament," he added.

While presenting the keynote paper, CPD Research Director Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem said employment is growing at a rate of 2.4 percent annually in Bangladesh.

"14.9 million jobs can be created within 2030 at this rate, which is below half the government's target," he added.

BNP parliament member Rumeen Farhana said a huge chunk of annual educational allotment is wasted for unnecessary degrees.

The keynote paper revealed that youths aged 15-24 years, about 11 million of the country's existing 64.1 million labour force, are facing the highest unemployment rate.

About 12.2 percent of total youth are unemployed while a total of 7.4 million of the youths are not in employment, even not in education or in training, due to a lack of job.

The paper also found various lacking in education, training and other facilities for marginalised youths which excludes them from the job market.

The paper also said there are not sufficient number of government schools in slum areas, partial or no stipend provided to the plain-land ethnic students, youths of the third gender cannot complete education due to discrimination and humiliation in schools.

The paper further said marginalised youths are deprived of accessing tertiary and ICT education due to financial pressure. Training facilities have increased for all youths but the quality and standard are yet to reach the benchmark.

Moazzem also said Bangladesh ranked 177th in creating employment and opportunity for the youth.

Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow of the CPD, said there is a lack of information and skill in the supply side of the job market.

Moreover, most of the jobs created have no institutional recognition. Demanders are also facing a serious shortage of skilled human resources.

Mujibul Haque, member of parliament and president of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Labour and Employment, blamed the lack of combination among several agencies of the government behind the lack of skills of the youths.

He alleged that a total of 22 ministries and divisions are providing skill development training, and none of them cooperates with his ministry.

Lawmaker Nahim Razzaq said the government is providing several types of training for the youths. Allocation for education is also rising over the years. But the quality of education and skills are not increasing due to the lack of accountability and transparency.