This paper seeks to provide an understanding of the employment situation in Bangladesh analyzing potential sectors and required policies for employment. The study found the vulnerable situation of job opportunity and underemployment with gender and region specific discrimination. The findings also showed that small and medium enterprises (Smes), ICT Sector, vocational training and overseas employment and employment in RMG sector were potentials sectors of employment opportunities for Bangladesh.

The study follows an analytical research. Data were collected form secondary sources. Sources of data were several government conducted survey specially “Labor Force Survey 2013”with different published journals, books and reports. Data were also collected from different concerned non-government organizations. This paper has used simple statistical tables and graphs to analyze the issues.

Bangladesh is a country with 163 million people where employment is the major source of income and livelihood for most of the economic active people. The labor force is growing in Bangladesh at higher rate than the rate of growth in population. In 2015 Government of Bangladesh claimed that the labor force participation rate was 57.1 percent with 4.3 percent unemployment rate which was about 2.6 million in number. As the country is experiencing its first demographic dividend these young population demand both quality and quantity opportunities in the employment sector.

Leseprobe

1. Introduction
1.1. Methodology and Data Sources

2. Demographic Dividend and Economic Active Population in Bangladesh
2.1. Labor Force Characteristics and Employment Situation of Bangladesh
2.2. Unemployment Situation of Bangladesh

3. Potential Sectors of Employment in Bangladesh
3.1. Small and Medium Enterprises (Smes)
3.2. ICT Sector
3.3. Vocational Training and Overseas Employment
3.4. Employment in RMG Sector
3.5. Policy Suggestions

4. Conclusion

5. References

Abstract

Bangladesh is a country with 163 million people where employment is the major source of income and livelihood for most of the economic active people. The labor force is growing in Bangladesh at higher rate than the rate of growth in population. In 2015 Government of Bangladesh claimed that the labor force participation rate was 57.1 percent with 4.3 percent unemployment rate which was about 2.6 million in number. As the country is experiencing its first demographic dividend these young population demand both quality and quantity opportunities in the employment sector. The main objective of the paper was to provide an understanding of employment situation of Bangladesh. The study found the vulnerable situation of job opportunity and underemployment with gender and region specific discrimination. The findings also showed that small and medium enterprises (Smes), ICT Sector, vocational training and overseas employment and employment in RMG sector were potentials sectors of employment opportunities for Bangladesh.

1. Introduction

Employment is a major source of income and livelihood for most of the people of Bangladesh. According to PRB (2016) Bangladesh is a country of 163 million people in which 12.9 % of the total population live in extreme poverty (World Bank 2016).This poverty & employment are highly associated with each other. Poverty reduces with betterment in employment. On the other hand employment creates opportunity & capability to purchase better goods and services. That’s why employment issue has been included in MDGs, SDGs & also in government policies of Bangladesh for the development of the country. One of the main development challenges for Bangladesh is providing enough jobs both in number and quality for the new entrants into the labor force and who are experiencing underemployments. The labor force is growing in Bangladesh at higher rate than the rate of growth in population. This is likely to persist over the next two decades or longer because the country is going through of its first demographic dividend. Bangladesh is experiencing third stage of demographic dividend with its huge youth bulge as a result of declining population growth & transition from high stationary to late expanding. According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (2015), the labor force participation rate is only 57.1% with 4.3% unemployment rate which is about 2.6 million in number where female are more vulnerable 7.3% than male 3%. Still 54.9 % of the economically active population is related with non-agricultural job sector. Data also shows Bangladesh is experiencing 20.3% underemployment rate. Providing quality jobs for this huge population is a challenging issue. This paper seeks to provide an understanding of employment situation of Bangladesh analyzing potential sectors and required policies for employment.

1.1. Methodology and Data Sources

The study follows an analytical research. Data were collected form secondary sources. Sources of data were several government conducted survey specially “Labour Force Survey 2013”with different published journals, books and reports. Data were also collected from different concerned non-government organizations. This paper has used simple statistical tables and graphs to analyze the issues.

2. Demographic Dividend and Economic Active Population in Bangladesh

According to BBS (2011) age distribution of Bangladesh shows that the largest reproductive segments are 10-14 &15-19 which refers to the adolescents group according to UN definition (10-19 aged group) contributes about 19% of the total population of the country. The population pyramid of the country shows that Bangladesh is experiencing youth bulge as a result of declining population growth & transition from high stationary to late expanding (3rd stage of demographic transition) where it has already entered into demographic dividend because the data was taken from 2011 census. Whatever, it will last till 2033 (Alam, 2012). According to UNFPA (2014) 47.6 million or 30 percent of the total 158.5 million people in Bangladesh were young (10-24 years. This means that Bangladesh needs to invest right now transforming these youth economic active population into human resource if it wants to reap the benefits of demographic dividend. Nabi (2011) said that this demographic opportunity can bring a huge dividend, if this labour force is converted into resource. As this window of opportunity opens for a population only once of its history. If Bangladesh fails to grab this demographic opportunity as early as possible, this huge number of economic active population can create a disastrous hazard for the nation.

2.1. Labor Force Characteristics and Employment Situation of Bangladesh

Small size of the employment generation with a huge number of population is the main problem for Bangladesh. It has experienced a long structural economic change since its independence. The country has moved from an agrarian to an industry and services sector based economy gradually. Although the country is experiencing demographic dividend but the number of unemployed people has increased over the years.

Table 1 shows that the economically active population of the country is increasing day by day. In 2002-03 it was 46.3 million and in 2013 it is 60.7 million. Data shows that women were less in number among economically active population in Bangladesh. Table also shows that 58.1 million population are employed where women were again lag behind. Refined activity rate of labor force participation rate of the country shows that 57.1 % of economically active population is participating in labor force. Among male it is 81.7 percent and among female 32.9 percent.

Table 1 Characteristics of labor force in Bangladesh

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