Low-carbon economy to help create jobs: ILO
Bangladesh can generate jobs if it strives to transform itself into a low-carbon and resource-efficient economy, says a new International Labour Organisation report.
World Employment and Social Outlook 2018: Greening with Jobs, released on Monday, said only 0.1 percent of the workforce was employed in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation in 2016.
Improving access to water and sanitation and adopting a municipal waste management system for collection, safe and sustainable disposal, recycling and composting practices will provide decent job opportunities, said the report.
In 2016, some 162,300 people were employed in the renewable energy sector, 86 percent in solar photovoltaic.
Bangladesh's employment rate in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning was only 0.2 percent in 2016. The massive delta area, with over 400 rivers, favours micro-generation and renewable energy technologies.
“With a push for increasing reliance on renewable energy, there is potential for decent job opportunities,” said the report.
It also said improvements in hazardous waste management, environmental protection and safe working conditions provide opportunities for new decent and green jobs in the shipbreaking industry.
“Action to improve environmental health, ecosystem vitality, climate change and resilience to weather disasters all have the potential to provide job creation, green economy growth and innovation.”
The report says about 66 percent of the population was of the legal working age of 15 to 64 years. As of 2017, the labour force participation rate was 62.3 percent and the employment-to-population ratio 59.8 percent.
The unemployment rate was 4 percent and youth unemployment 10.5 percent. The youth-not-in-employment, education or training rate (aged 15-24 years) was 20.2 percent in 2013.
“Formal employment is heavily reliant on agriculture and services and on medium-skilled occupations.”
The report said vulnerable employment accounts for 75.2 percent of the labour force.
“Developing preventive measures to limit infrastructure and property damage and increasing institutional capacity, particularly for small businesses to respond to climate events, can be a source of decent job creation while building resilience.”
Some 40 percent of the workforce is engaged in the agriculture sector, 40 percent in services and 20 percent in industry, according to the report.
Agricultural employment dropped from a peak 33.6 million in 2000 to 29.2 million in 2014.
Share of agricultural employment in total employment fell by about 16 percentage points due to other sectors fast creating jobs.
“Although reliance on agriculture is large, there are opportunities for job creation for sustainable production and organic farming.”
The report said better data collection relating to green economy and environmental sector would be valuable for policymakers.