Record job vacancies hurt govt services

More than a quarter of the 19 lakh posts in the civil administration are now vacant mainly due to the authorities' reluctance to initiate the recruitment process.

The record 5,03,333 vacancies as of December 2022 in government offices are one of the reasons why people face hassles and delays in getting services at government facilities. This is also depriving the unemployed.

According to the public administration ministry's latest Statistics of Civil Officers and Staff, the number of vacancies in ministries and other government offices rose sharply in 2022, even though vacancies were steadily declining in the four previous years.

There were 358,125 vacancies in 2021.

Creating employment was a priority in the ruling Awami League's January 7 election manifesto. At a meeting with the secretaries on February 5, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ordered them to take steps for recruitment for the vacant posts.

As per the statistics that represent the data until December 2022, vacancies in government offices never crossed the 4,00,000 mark.

At the Ministry of Post Telecommunication and Information Technology, there are 9,132 vacancies, which is almost half of its 20,191 posts.

The health ministry has the highest 74,574 vacancies followed by the primary education ministry with 44,790.

There are over 4.41 lakh vacancies for the class-3 and -4 jobs. The total number of jobs in the two classes is over 13.43 lakh, which is 77 percent of all the jobs in the civil administration.

Officials at the Ministry of Public Administration (MOPA) say the unprecedented situation has been created because of delays in recruitment caused by the Covid-19 restrictions.

The MOPA in a circular issued on February 11 urged all ministries and divisions to ramp up the recruitment process.

However, officials say recruitment is not picking up pace because of bureaucratic tangles and lack of initiatives by the recruiting organisations.

Class-1 and -2 officers are recruited in a fair process by the Public Service Commission (PSC), officials say. But recruitment in the lower grades, which is handled by ministries and government bodies, often gets delayed.

For example, on June 16, 2020, the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief issued a job circular for 108 vacant posts in the Cyclone Preparedness Programme.

The result of the subsequent recruitment test was published on September 13, 2021. But an investigation later found that the recruitment process was fraught with irregularities such as individuals getting hired without tests.

The ministry cancelled the recruitment process in January 2023 and had not done anything to fill the vacancies since. No steps were taken against officials responsible for the fiasco.

The food directorate on July 11, 2018, issued a circular for 1,666 jobs. The recruitment process ended in the last quarter of last year.

Allegations of corruption and nepotism in government recruitment have become so common that top officials of many organisations are reluctant to initiate recruitments, officials say.

Preferring anonymity, a top public administration official said, "Directorates and similar organisations under different ministries are mostly led by additional secretaries. Since people in that level aspire to be secretaries, they tend to refrain from initiating recruitment processes, which they fear would bring trouble [for their promotion prospects]."

Contacted, former additional secretary Firoz Miah said forming a separate commission for recruitment in class-3 jobs would lower irregularities as the PSC is already struggling with the recruitment procedure of class-1 and -2 officers.

"If recruitment is free of corruption, there will be fewer irregularities in public service. If someone pays Tk 10-15 lakh to get a government job, they will indulge in bribery," he said.

Former secretary Badiur Rahman said service seekers faced additional challenges and delays in government offices because of the staff shortage. 

In 2019, the government took an initiative for centralising the recruitment of class-3 and -4 employees, and the MOPA sought the PSC's opinion in this regard.

Muhammad Sadik, the then PSC chairman, opined that the PSC could do that if the government provided adequate support.

On February 16, 2020, weeks before the coronavirus pandemic, the government formed a committee to assess a proposed centralised recruitment process.

After the first wave of the pandemic, the idea was revived on February 28, 2021. The then president Abdul Hamid told the PSC to organise a central recruitment process for the class-3 and -4 jobs.

But no considerable progress has been made since then.

Contacted, Farhad Hossain, minister for public administration, said the government would take steps to expedite the recruitment process.

"I cannot give you a specific date. But you will soon see some progress," he said.