Govt should emphasise on creating a job-oriented labour market

The story of the expansion of education in the country over the last five decades is one of our prides.

During this time, the number of schools, colleges, and universities has increased, and millions of young people are graduating with higher education certificates every year.

But behind this achievement lies a complex reality. More than 84 percent of the country’s labour market is still in the informal sector.

That is, at least eight out of every 10 workers are involved in employment that does not guarantee employment, health insurance, institutional benefits, or pensions.

The latest data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) says that this rate is even more alarming in rural areas.

However, the most worrying fact is that 58.73 percent of young people with higher education certificates are still forced to work in this informal sector.

The unemployment rate is also high among these highly educated people.

This means that as the spread of education increases, the risk of unemployment is also increasing as a large part of educated young people are not considered sufficiently skilled in terms of labour market demands.

This inverse equation between education and sustainable formal employment points to a deep economic crisis for the entire nation.

If this crisis cannot be overcome, the potential demographic dividend will become a burden on the country in another decade.

As ILO research shows, the employment structure in Bangladesh is undergoing a structural change.

As industrial development has stalled for various reasons, people are returning to less productive and labour-intensive sectors like agriculture and self-employment.

Here more than two million young people join the labour market every year.

Meanwhile, many countries have shown remarkable success in balancing education and formal employment.

Among developed countries, Germany’s ‘dual system’ is one of the most successful job-creating education models in the world.

There, students study in the classroom on the one hand, and on the other hand, they spend several days a week directly training in companies.

Bangladesh dreams of becoming a middle-income country, promising to achieve the SDGs.

But that dream cannot be fulfilled keeping 84 percent of the labour force outside social security.

If the certificate of educated youth does not open the door to employment, then education is of little use.

Therefore, linking education and employment is no longer just the responsibility of policymakers; it is also a question of the future path of the nation.