29 percent of highly educated youth in Bangladesh unemployed: IMF

About 29 percent of the highly educated youth in Bangladesh are unemployed. On the other hand, about half of the highly educated workers are engaged in such professions where their educational qualifications and skills are not being fully utilised. This picture of the labour market of the country has emerged in a report of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

This information has been highlighted in the ‘Regional Economic Outlook: Asia and Pacific’ report of the IMF published on Thursday (October 15). Information received up to October 2 has been used in this. It has been said in the report that the lack of suitable employment for the educated youth and the mismatch of skills with the demand of jobs have stood as a big challenge of the labour market of Bangladesh.

It has been seen in the analysis of the IMF that the overall youth unemployment rate of Bangladesh is between 12 and 13 percent. However, the situation is more concerning in the case of the highly educated youth. At the time of entering the professional life after completing the educational life, many youth are not getting jobs according to their qualifications. Again even after getting jobs, many are joining such works where their acquired knowledge and skills are not being fully utilised.

It has been said in the report that there is a large gap between the skills of the job seekers and the demand of the employers. Due to the lack of necessary skills many youth have to remain unemployed for a long time. On the other hand, many are being forced to do works of less skill compared to the educational qualifications. Due to this the productivity of the labour force is decreasing along with not fully getting the benefits of the investment in higher education.

Analysing the labour markets of various countries of Asia, the IMF has said that the abundance of employment in the agriculture and informal sectors can hide the actual weakness of the labour market. In many cases permanent jobs, formal appointment letters, social security and the opportunity of promotion are limited in these sectors. As a result it is not possible to understand the quality of employment and the overall situation of the labour market only with the rate of unemployment.

For Bangladesh the increase in the working-age population in the coming years will create possibilities on the one hand and increase the pressure of employment on the other. The IMF has emphasised increasing the opportunities of productive and quality jobs to utilise this manpower in economic development. Alongside the necessity of making the education system consistent with the demand of the labour market and increasing the opportunities for the youth to acquire the necessary technical and professional skills has been mentioned.

The expansion of artificial intelligence or AI is creating new challenges in the labour market. Analysing about four crore online job advertisements of 19 economies of Asia, the IMF has seen that the demand for workers in the professions where the influence of AI is more has decreased by about 10 percent. At the same time the demand for workers with AI-related skills has increased.

It has been warned in the report that the countries where the influence of AI is comparatively less at present will also not remain outside its influence in the future. Even if new employment is created in the production and service sectors, the type of many professions and the necessary skills may change due to the progress of technology. As a result increasing the capability of the workers to adapt with the new technology is urgent.

On the other hand the IMF has also reduced the forecast of the economic growth of Bangladesh. According to the forecast of the organisation, the gross domestic product or GDP of Bangladesh may increase by 3.2 percent in the 2026-27 fiscal year. The weakness of the labour market, economic uncertainty and various internal and global pressures are influencing the possibilities of the growth of the country.

On the other hand the organisation has increased the overall growth forecast of the Asia and Pacific region. The possibilities of growth of the countries getting the benefits of investment in the technology sector and AI-dependent economic activities have become strong. However the low-income countries are under the pressure of high energy costs and inflation.

According to the observation of the IMF, to ensure sustainable growth for Bangladesh only creating new employment is not enough, rather increasing quality jobs, proper utilisation of the skills of the educated youth and building the capability to adapt with the technology-dependent economy is also urgent.