Not so good news for the jobless

Ever since Belayat Ahmed completed his graduation two years ago from a college under the National University, he applied to different private companies and submitted his resume to a few job boards. 

Yet, the youth from Khulna could not get the "golden dear".

In the meantime, the outbreak of novel coronavirus disrupted everything, having an impact on the employment landscape and the job market.

With the number of job postings dropping sharply of late, he doesn't see any possibility of getting a job anytime soon as the pandemic and subsequent closures rendered a large number of people jobless.

"I need a job to support my family. But I don't know what will be the situation after the pandemic," said the 24-year-old.

Belayat is among the thousands of graduates who are now apprehending a bleak future ahead as Covid-19 appears to be one of the biggest destroyers of employment in the history.

Hundreds of jobs could be lost permanently and according to preliminary estimates by the Asian Development Bank, this number of jobless people could rise to 1.4 million.

Bangladesh was already struggling with a huge number of unemployed population -- nearly 26 lakh to be precise -- even before the pandemic began in the country.

Though the government has been saying job creation will be one of the main priorities, yesterday's budget speech did not bring much good news for unemployed youths like Belayet or returned migrant workers, or those who have lost jobs or are at the verge of losing earning sources as fallout of pandemic.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal did not give any specific guidelines on how the major challenges of creating jobs will be resolved. He, however, spoke of the initiatives that have already been taken.

"We have announced a large stimulus package of about Tk 1,03,117 crore to fight the economic fallout from the coronavirus, one of the main objectives of which is to remove temporary job losses by revitalising the economic activities," the minister said.

Experts and entrepreneurs, however, said the government could have taken a special measure to address the employment problem.

"We already have a mismatch in the skills and job market. Now amid the coronavirus situation, the problem will be more acute," Brac University's Professor Emeritus Manzoor Ahmed said.

"Employment creation is now stagnant. Opportunities of job in informal and many formal sectors are shrinking in home and abroad. Many migrant workers are returning home and will return soon. They [government] could have taken special plan, but it remains a traditional budget," he added.

Rasheda K Choudhury, executive director, Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE), said the government should have given priorities on economic recovery, investment and allocation in human resource capacity development through education and health sector.

"Creating skilled human resources is directly related with job market."

ADB's policy brief tilted "Covid-19 Impact on Job Postings: Real-Time Assessment Using Bangladesh and Sri Lanka Online Job Portals", which came out on May 29, said businesses in Bangladesh stopped hiring workers because of the Covid-19 outbreak.

The number of job postings decreased by 87 percent in April this year, in comparison with same month of 2019, according to ADB's policy brief.

The number of job postings in April 2020 was down by 95 percent in textile and education industries, and by 92 percent in the manufacturing industry. The sharp decline in the textile industry could be related to the pandemic affecting key export markets such as Europe and the United States.

"This is the time to take new steps," said Anwar-ul Alam Chowdhury, president of Bangladesh Chamber of Industries (BCI).

"Steps should be taken to increase capacity in some sectors like retail, cottage industry and SME. Opportunities in light engineering, blue ocean, agro process and IT sector are opening up due to relation among China, US and EU," he said.

Anwarul suggested creating a separate human resources ministry, which will conduct research. This ministry will make recommendations, and the education ministry will prepare curriculum along that line, he said.

EDUCATION BUDGET NOT ADEQUATE

The finance minister allocated Tk 66,400 crore for education sector for 2020-21. The amount makes up 11.69 percent of the total outlay and its share in the GDP stands at 2.09 percent.

Bangladesh has committed in the Dakar Declaration and other global forums to spend 6 percent of GDP or allocate at least 20 percent of the national budget for education. Unesco also stipulates a similar budgetary allocation for education.

Educationists say the government expenditure on education as a proportion of GDP has been hovering around 2 percent for the last several years, which is lower than that in many other South Asian countries.

The bulk share of the budget goes to salaries and operational expenditure, leaving little scope for ensuring a quality education and skill human resource development.

With this little education budget country will not be able to reap the benefit from the demographic dividend, they added.

Demographic dividend is the economic growth potential that can result from shifts in a population's age structure, mainly when the share of the working age population (15 to 64) is larger than the non-working age share of the population (14 and younger, and 65 and older).

About 65 percent of Bangladesh's population is between the age of 15 and 64 now.

STIMULUS PACKAGES

The stimulus packages include a subsidised loan fund of Tk 5,000 crore to enable payment of salaries and allowances of workers and employees in export-oriented industries, including ready-made garments.

Two separate low interest loan facilities -- Tk 30,000 crore low-interest working capital loan to affected large industries and service sector organisations, and Tk 20,000 crore low interest working capital loan to the micro, cottage and small and medium enterprises.

"We will expand the system of distribution of low interest loans to poor village farmers, returned expatriate workers and trained and unemployed youths for their engagement in business and self-employment activities in the rural areas in agriculture, agriculture related production and services, small businesses and small and cottage industries," said the finance minister.

To support this initiative, a low interest loan facility of Tk 2,000 crore has been created, which will be distributed through Palli Sanchay Bank, Probashi Kallyan Bank, Karmasangsthan Bank and Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF).

Mustafa Kamal said the fourth priority sector will be job creation and rural development.

The objectives are to tackle unemployment in the industry, SMEs and services sector and the rural non-formal sector due to partial closure of overall economic activities, and to create employment opportunities for expatriate Bangladeshis who have been forced to return from abroad, he said.