The rising number of unemployed graduates

Bangladesh has nearly 8 lakh graduates who were unemployed in 2022.

According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the unemployment rate was 12 per cent (tertiary), the highest among all levels of education.

The unemployment rate among higher educated people was 11.2 per cent in the previous Labour Force Survey conducted in 2016-17, which shows that the joblessness rate among educated youth is growing.

Of the unemployed among graduates, around 19 per cent were female in 2022.

According to the survey, the unemployment rate was low among persons with low or no education, but the rate of joblessness increased in line with the rise in education level.

The unemployment rate among people having higher secondary degrees was 8.87 per cent in 2022, and the jobless rate was 2.82 per cent among those who have completed their secondary education.

The rate of unemployment is higher among graduated youths than the ones with no graduation degree.

All the recent surveys of the World Bank and Bangladesh Institution of Development Studies show the same result.

Our inability to bring the youth into economic activity is the main cause for the involvement of youth with drug or extremism.

It is alarming that most of the students now prefer government jobs rather than private ones.

Job seekers consider government jobs as the secure and easy options as there are other types of income opportunities also.

The government without any necessity set up many universities and produced a high number of unemployed graduates.

Economists and educators for many years have asked the government to bridge universities and industries to produce industry-oriented graduates and run the departments that have market demands.

We ask the policymakers to make a balance between universities and industries and create enough employment in the private sector.

However, the political environment, absence of rules of law, total chaos in the country’s financial management are the major factors responsible for neglecting job creation in the country.

Without political settlement and stability, social and economic advancement is impossible.