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25pc of youth lose jobs

15 Sep 2020 11:02 AM

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Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, Ferdous Iftekhar would provide it (IT) training to 40 job hunters in two batches at an organisation in Uttara.

Thirty-year-old Iftekhar includes a family of four members. He lost his job as all sorts of training were suspended at the start of April because of coronavirus.

As coronavirus continues to be raging from coast to coast like elsewhere in the world, his unemployment is unlikely to get rid of. A post-graduate running a business and commerce, Iftekhar told Prothom Alo, “I don’t know when coronavirus will recede. I am thinking about running a small business.”

Before the coronavirus, some 12 youth out of 100 between 15-24 years were unemployed, now the number had increased to 25

Like Ferdous, thousands of young boys and girls have become jobless. ILO in a written report said the rate of unemployed youth have become double in Bangladesh as a result of coronavirus.

Prior to the coronavirus, some 12 youth out of 100 between 15-24 years were unemployed, now the quantity had increased to 25.

Currently the ability of new jobs is limited. New jobs seekers are also in trouble. There already are 2.7 million unemployed people.

As business and commerce have already been affected due to coronavirus, neither small nor big companies are recruiting as before.

Unemployment among youth has doubled

Young children in Asia are in high risk due to coronavirus pandemic. Joblessness has raised.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) published a report titled ‘Tackling the COVID-19 youth employment crisis in Asia and the Pacific’ in August. Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded this report. ILO in its report depicted the scenario of job loss due to coronavirus in 13 countries of Asia and Pacific region. Bangladesh, India, Cambodia, Fiji, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand are among the countries.

ILO has assessed the impact of the work crisis on youth in the first and second quarters of 2020.

About Bangladesh, ILO said some 24.8 per cent of youth has lost jobs as the coronavirus prolonged for six months. The rate was 11.9 per cent in 2019. Youths normally work regular or part time. Both of work has been lost. ILO said if all youth would work full time, which means 48 hours in a week, the number of total unemployed youth would stand at 1,675,000.

ILO said alongside shutdown of firms, youths were terminated from their jobs. Working hours were decreased. Many have gone from the formal sectors to the informal sectors. So it is difficult to examine the original number of job losses.

According to ILO, some 14.8 million youths have lost jobs in 13 countries. 6.1 million youth lost jobs in India. Youths have lost jobs in seven sectors out of 35. They are: agriculture, retail sales, hotel-restaurant, local transport, textile, textile, construction and others. In Bangladesh, 76 % of youths lost jobs from these seven sectors. 22.9 % of youths lost jobs in the agriculture sector and 13.6 in textile.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, planning commission member Shamsul Alam said the quantity of unemployed youths has increased in the first two-three months. At the beginning of coronavirus outbreak, strict restriction was imposed, but later it was eased. Due to this fact, the entire economy started picking right up. The joblessness of a huge number of people could be tackled, he added.

Scope for jobs decreases

There are job opportunities in informal and formal sectors. Advertisements aren't given for the informal sector. Through the coronavirus, advertisements for recruitment in the formal sector have decreased. Advertisements in bdjobs have decreased drastically through the coronavirus. Some 2768 advertisements of different companies for jobs were found till Sunday afternoon, however the number have been 3,000-4,000 during normal times.

Bdjobs sources said 80 % of the advertisements have decreased in April than in March. 70 % decreased in-may. However, the situation began to improve in June and July.

Currently, 15 to 20 per cent of advertisements are significantly less than normal.

Analysing the bdjobs portal, it is found that the majority of the firms are seeking experienced persons.

Among the heavy industries, like BSRM steel, work on three projects has slowed. Of the, one is new and two others are extensions of factories. Engineers are unable to come because of travel bans on foreigners. So installment of machinery is halted and new employment is not being created.

BSRM managing director Amer Ali Hussain said all work has slowed down. The investors will not choose expansion of their business unless everything becomes normal. So that it is difficult to recruit fresh manpower.

Exactly what will happened to new jobs seekers

According to the planning commission, in Bangladesh around 1.8 million young men and women come to the work market. Of the, 600,000 to 700,000 persons go abroad for jobs. The rest engage locally. Migrant personnel are returning home because of coronavirus. Economic recession persists in various countries like the Middle East. The scope of jobs also decreased there.

Planning commission member Shamsul Alam said the economy must be kept vibrant for fresh recruitment. Businesses must be brought back on track. If investment comes, new factories will be established and scope for jobs increase, he added.

25pc of youth lose jobs

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