Matching skills with the jobs: The only way to sustain growth
Bangladesh's economy has been on a fast-paced journey in recent years, except of course during the ongoing pandemic. With high growth, the country has achieved several positive economic and social milestones. However, the economy is performing below its full potential. One of the reasons behind this is our inability to fully use the talent and capability of the country's human resources. Not only has the economy been unable to create adequate jobs for its labour force, but the employed people are also not being able to give their best and earn more due to the poor quality of education and lack of appropriate skills. Therefore, the lack of access to jobs could hamper further progress of the country, since human resource is key for any economy. Hence, the materialisation of Bangladesh's aspiration to become a developed country by 2041 will also depend on maximising the potential of its people.
Among Bangladesh's many strengths, the availability of a large young population is an important one. Despite tremendous population pressure on a small area of land, Bangladesh is in a unique position to reap from its "demographic dividend". This is a situation when the size of the working age population is larger than its number of dependents. Bangladesh has a large number of working-age people who can contribute to increased income, more savings, higher productivity and faster economic growth. This gives Bangladesh a competitive edge among other countries which are aging fast. But it has been projected that the demographic dividend will diminish by 2040. So, a post-demographic dividend situation will not be easy. It has been suggested that because of a large share of the aging population, many advanced countries are experiencing economic slowdowns.
Harnessing the full potential of the large young population is challenging. To realise the demographic dividend, all working age population has to be accommodated into the workforce. This requires creation of enough jobs in the economy. A major boost has to come from the private sector through higher investment. But from the supply side, these people will have to be educated and trained to meet the needs of the job market. The employability of our young workforce is low. They lack hard skills. They also lack soft skills as our education system does not teach them those skills including critical thinking, problem solving, communication, negotiation, inter-personal exchanges, leadership, decision making and adaptability. Students at educational institutions do not learn what is needed for a job. So, they are not job-ready when they come out of the colleges or universities.
Though the number of job seekers is much higher than the actual capacity of the job market, the recruiters often find it difficult to get the right person for the job. This is because there is a mismatch between the demand of the employers and the supply of graduates from the educational institutes. The skill requirements of the recruiters are not met by the educational institutions. Hence, a large number of youth find low paid informal jobs while the others remain unemployed.
Thus, for increased opportunity for the youth, the quality of education and appropriate skills are fundamental requirements. So, higher investments in human capital are critically important. Such investment should be from public, private and non-government sectors. Apart from higher investment, a number of concrete measures should be in place.
First, we have to recognise that the nature of tasks is changing fast and evolving with time. It is becoming increasingly digitised. Technology is replacing many jobs. Technology is also creating new types of jobs. Technology is essential for improving efficiency and productivity. However, without technological skills, the job seekers do not get this opportunity. IT industry experts indicate that there is a huge demand for technologically skilled human resources for the emerging IT enabled services but their supply is inadequate. Therefore, the curriculum should be reviewed and revised constantly keeping in view the emerging world of work.
Second, bridging the gap between the academic institutions and the industry is critical. The courses at colleges and universities should be redesigned so that they have practical application in the real world. Designing of courses should be done in consultation with the representatives of the industries who know what kind of knowledge and skill sets they look for in a graduate who they would recruit.
Third, universities should also have the system of having "Practice Professors" from the industry itself. This is common in advanced countries. These are the professors who come from the private sector with vast knowledge and experience they gather from the industry. They are the chief executives or high officials of reputed global companies who have solved problems on the ground. In Bangladesh, there is a reluctance in the universities to hire them as faculty. Absence of such practices deprive students of having a valuable exposure to the job market.
Fourth, universities should also provide executive education since continuation of learning is essential in the fast-moving demand of jobs. Bangladeshi universities can collaborate with some of the reputed educational institutions of the world so that mid-level professionals have the opportunity to access some of the relevant courses even by staying in the country—both offsite and onsite. This will be affordable and will provide opportunity to a larger section of on-the-job professionals. Courses and training modules for the executive programmes should also be evaluated and redesigned regularly.
Fifth, the existing government training institutes should be improved with adequate and qualified trainers and practical training modules. As it happens often, the public sector initiatives focus more on the physical infrastructure and less on quality of services. So, the objective of such infrastructure, that is, imparting quality training, remains unfulfilled. Training modules are not forward looking and dynamic. Even the quality of many private training and skills development centres is questionable. The number of training centres for professionals is mushrooming like coaching centres. But most of them do not provide quality training and the participants do not learn anything to add to their workplaces. There should be a mechanism to oversee the training modules and methods, and the quality of trainers to ensure that the trainees can learn to solve practical issues in their workplaces.
Sixth, access to quality internet will help the youth, particularly outside the large cities to access online courses. These days, plenty of online courses and training programmes are available and students across the world are benefiting from those offers. Now they have the opportunity to find employment both in the physical job market and online beyond the boundaries of their own countries. They also become entrepreneurs and begin start-ups.
Finally, the sustainability of our growth momentum will largely depend on the productivity and quality of the growth. If businesses and institutions continuously suffer from lack of qualified human resources their efficiency declines. They also cannot grow. They do not want to invest in innovation and technology due to a lack of skilled and specialised workforce. Their competitiveness in the global market declines. This, in turn, discourages them to invest and expand. It is like a vicious cycle. And, in the end it affects growth and prosperity of the country. We must prepare ourselves to avoid this situation.
Dr Fahmida Khatun is the Executive Director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue.
Views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of her organisation.