If I were to ask you about Bangladesh’s biggest problem today, you might say the economy, or perhaps politics, or the education sector, or even corruption. But almost everyone would agree on one issue that stands out above the rest: unemployment. It’s undoubtedly one of Bangladesh’s most significant challenges.
Bangladesh gained independence over 50 years ago. Since then, we’ve seen countless political transitions, military rule, and finally, the end of the Awami League’s authoritarian rule from 2009-2024 with the student-people’s uprising in 2024, which forced Hasina to flee. An interim government has taken over and is trying to solve the country’s problems. While everything isn’t perfect, some issues, like unemployment, simply refuse to go away. In other words, we have a large, unemployed population.
Every year, millions of students graduate from Bangladeshi universities and enter the job market. But finding a job isn’t easy. Some succeed, others don’t. Many reasons are cited for this: some blame a lack of skills, others point to low CGPA. But what’s the real reason? Before we delve into that, let’s look at the current state of unemployment in Bangladesh.
The State of Unemployment in Bangladesh
According to the latest quarterly labor force report from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the unemployment rate in the country has risen to 4.63%. Previously, the quarterly labor force survey for the July-September 2024 period showed the unemployment rate reaching 4.49%, with the number of unemployed standing at 2.66 million, which was higher than the 2.49 million in the same period of 2023. Overall, Bangladesh’s unemployment rate in 2024 was 4.48%, indicating an increase compared to 4.15% in 2023. While this increase is observed using the 19th ICLS method developed by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the unemployment rate appears comparatively lower (3.64%) according to the 13th ICLS.
Data from Macrotrends indicates that Bangladesh’s unemployment rate in 2024 was 4.68%, a 0.23% increase from 4.45% in 2023. Focus Economics reports that over the last decade (up to 2024), Bangladesh’s average unemployment rate was 4.6%, slightly higher than the East and South Asian average of 4.5%.
The number of educated unemployed is highest in Bangladesh. According to BBS, there are currently around 2.59 million educated unemployed individuals in the country. Over the past five years (2017-2022), the number of unemployed graduates and post-graduates has doubled from 400,000 to 800,000. The 2022 labor force survey shows that nearly 31% of the total unemployed (799,000) are highly educated. Furthermore, 51% of the total unemployed in the country have at least a higher secondary education. The unemployment rate among highly educated youth is even more severe; in 2022, it was 27.8%, a significant increase from 9.7% in 2013. These figures clearly indicate the detrimental impact of unemployment on our society. But the question remains: why are so many people unemployed, and what are the underlying reasons?
Why So Many Unemployed?
To understand why there’s such high unemployment in our country, we need to look at the root of the problem. If you observe, most job seekers you encounter, or those around you, come from universities. But why don’t these young university graduates get jobs? The main reason lies in some pervasive misconceptions within our society.
Much of what is taught in our universities is theoretical. The subjects students study often don’t translate directly into job requirements. While some subjects, like BBA, MBA, CSE, and EEE, attract a large number of students due to their perceived job market relevance, the actual output in terms of employment is minimal. When a huge number of students graduate from the same subjects and enter the job market, most of them struggle to find secure employment. There’s a high supply but low demand. Companies might need only one or two people for a position, but they receive over a hundred applications. This is why the job market is in such a dire state.
Skill Gap and the Bias Towards Government Jobs
Many consider a lack of skills to be a significant factor in not getting a job. This isn’t entirely false. Companies always look for skilled individuals who can help their organization grow. However, many job seekers lack these essential skills, and it’s often not possible for them to acquire them independently. Consequently, companies don’t find the practical workforce they need, and job seekers don’t get their desired jobs.
Another significant reason is the strong inclination towards government jobs. In Bangladesh’s socio-economic context, government employment sets a social standard. Parents often dream of their children becoming government employees, perhaps a BCS cadre or holding another government position. This creates immense psychological pressure on young men and women. They have to study separately for government jobs, which often prevents them from engaging in productive or creative work. This is because, in this country, creative work is often seen as negative and unnecessary until the individual achieves significant financial output and success. This contributes to a lack of creativity in Bangladesh. The lives of students are often caught in a tug-of-war between government BCS exams and private sector jobs. Sometimes, parents instill in their children from an early age that they must become doctors or engineers. This often leads to disappointment later if they don’t get into a medical or engineering university, which also impacts the children.
The Disconnect Between Employers and Job Seekers
In the job market, there’s an invisible wall between employers and job seekers. This wall primarily stems from a lack of understanding. Employers seek candidates with good communication skills, smartness, expertise, and the ability to work with people. They want someone who can deliver maximum output from day one to help the company achieve its goals—a complete package. However, the reality is quite the opposite. Bangladeshi universities often don’t provide adequate education on what is truly needed for jobs. As a result, students have to spend time learning, by themselves and from various sources, what kind of skills employers look for in different jobs. Most of the time, this doesn’t align, leading to wasted time for the students. This makes their job search incredibly difficult. Another thing that suffer a job seeker suffers from is refeence. Sometimes A high value reference works perfectly for a canditate. Compny often looks for high references from canditate. which in corprate language we can say they are looking for “JACK” for their canditates. if a canditate cannot provide a good reference in his CV, then it wis becomes hard for the canditate getting the job ather then the one who have link-up with high reference.
Stagnant Salaries Even With Employment
Even if you do manage to find a job, you often find that salaries don’t increase. You might work in the same position for years. Even with promotions, the salary doesn’t increase significantly. Why is this happening?
Statistics show that in Bangladesh, average wage growth has been lower than inflation for the past 41 months. According to the latest data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), wage growth in June was 8.18%, while inflation stood at 8.48%. The same trend was observed in May, when wage growth (8.21%) was 0.84 percentage points lower than inflation (9.05%). This negative real wage growth is pushing low and limited-income groups into crisis and forcing many to cut back on consumption. This isn’t an ordinary occurrence. It’s true that while the cost of goods is increasing, salaries are not keeping pace.
This negative real wage growth specifically impacts educated workers who expected their degrees to provide economic mobility. Many find themselves in informal sector jobs—tutoring, delivery services, or sales positions—where incomes are low and job security is minimal. The minimum wage for garment workers, set at BDT 12,500 (approximately USD 113), proves insufficient for basic subsistence in today’s economic climate, highlighting the significant gap between wages and the cost of living.
Potential Solutions and Reforms
Now, the question might arise: how do we break free from this paradox? The government has introduced some initiatives, such as Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), supporting entrepreneurship through initiatives like ‘Start-up Bangladesh,’ and providing financial assistance to small and medium enterprises through dedicated funds. The government has also promoted freelancing as an alternative employment path by leveraging the country’s growing digital infrastructure. However, experts believe these measures are not enough.
First, we need to provide humanitarian and skill-based assistance to our current unemployed youth. We must ensure they don’t feel like a burden on society. A skill development project should be established where they can showcase their practical skills, and then arrangements should be made for their employment from there. Alongside this, we need to attract investment to create more jobs in the country. Foreign companies should be encouraged to invest in Bangladesh. However, while this might offer a temporary solution, we must address the problem at its very root.
And that root is the transformation of our education system. We need to shift from a theoretical education system to a practical-based education system. We must make our youth understand that everyone possesses some talent, and it needs to be uncovered. To expand the job market in the country, we need to increase the number of technical education institutions and training programs. Additionally, instead of focusing on a few subjects for jobs, we need to create job opportunities in other areas. Universities shouldn’t just increase seminars; they need to increase AI and technology-related training. We should establish industry academies in our own country whose sole purpose is to enhance the industrial skills of young people. In this regard, we can learn from examples set by countries like Japan, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
Ultimately, if we are to escape the curse of unemployment, our government and everyone else must step forward. Otherwise, this curse will never leave us.
