Introduction:

Unemployment is a great concern in Bangladesh. Every year hundreds of thousands student are
coming out from collage and university. Though it is one of the major responsibilities of the
government to provide job to those young generation but the government is failed to meet the
job demand among the large population. Recent attitude and activity of political parties are
very hateful to the common people.

Historically for a long time British administration was the main cause of this problem. After
ending Mughol regime when British came sub-continent they started to do business, they
expoiled the sub-continent. They didn’t establish any industry which is helpful to remove the
unemployment problem. Though some industry was made but all of them were placed in Indian
territory.

After 1973 Bangladesh has been facing political crisis badly. As a result no government can take
long term massive step to remove the unemployment problem. Within 37 years Bangladesh has
experience about eight new governments and two assassination incident at the top level
country leader.

If we watch towards Japan, Korea, Malaysia what we will see? Due to industrialization they
changed a lot. Without industrialization no nation expect strong economic basement and
solution of unemployment problem. After political settlement the first and foremost thing for
Bangladesh is , to build up industry to remove the unemployment problem.

Specially automobile and electronics industry are the major items to intensify a country’s
overall financial condition. Most of money is spent in these two sectors. Lot of population can
be employed in these industries. Because by surrounding a automobile or electronics industry
hundreds of supporting small industry will be build up.

According to labor force survey 2010, the rate of unemployment stands at 4.5% which was 4.3%
in 2005-2006. In the urban area, the unemployment rate was 6.5% in 2010, whereas ,it was
4.3% in 2005-2006. On the other hand, the rate of unemployment was 4.0% in the rural area in
2010 which was 4.2% in 2005-2006. There exists sex differentials in the unemployment rate
where the rate of unemployment for male was 4.1% in 2010 and it was 3.4% in 2005-2006. In
the urban area, the unemployment rate for male was 5.7% in 2010 which was to 3.6% in 2005-
2006. In rural area, the corresponding unemployment rate was 3.6% in 2010 and 3.3% in 2005-
2006. For the females, the unemployment rate for Bangladesh, urban and rural was 5.7%,8.3
and 4.9% in 2010 which was 7.o%,6.7% and 7.2% in 2005-2006.
Objective:

Bangladesh, suffers from large-scale underemployment; especially in agriculture, a large part of

the population could be removed without reducing agricultural output. Beyond agriculture,
disguised unemployment also exists in industries, offices and organizations, particularly in the
public sector. Unemployment among the educated youths is rather high in Bangladesh. The
unemployment rate for the population having secondary education and above is significantly
higher than those with a lower level of education.

The unemployment rate for educated women is higher compared to the male population. In
Bangladesh salaried employment in the formal sectors is not big enough to take care of the
huge number of unemployed. Employment promotion, especially, creation of self-employment
opportunities, continues to be the most important function of the Bureau of Manpower
Employment and Training. The Fifth Five-Year Plan (1997-2002) had set a target of creating
additional employment of 6.35 million persons. Of this, 1,60,000 persons are expected to be
engaged in self-employment.

Emphasis had been given on training and credit support to women entrepreneurs in micro
cottage industries and other traditional and non-traditional sectors including skill development
for service industries and other non-farm activities. Bangladesh has a rather high rate of
Inflation rate 10.2% (May of 2011) also provides a vital role in Unemployment. Minimum wage
law & Labor unions working for efficiency wages also a reason for unemployment as well-paid
employees rarely leaves their job to create chance for the new workers.
According to a study of the International Labor Organization (ILO), the rate of growth of
unemployment in Bangladesh was 1.9 per cent in the nineties. But the growth in
unemployment currently is 3.7 per cent. The ILO figures also show Bangladesh in the twelfth
position among the top twenty countries in the world where unemployment is rising. The
number of the unemployed in Bangladesh now is estimated at 30 million. The way the rate of
unemployment is increasing, it is feared that at this rate unemployment would soar to some 60
million by 2015.

According to another estimate, every year some 2.7 million young persons are becoming
eligible for jobs whereas only about 0.7 million of them are getting employment. The number of
the 'disguised unemployed' an economic farm meaning underemployed people or employed to
a degree less than their potential, is some 32 per cent. The total civilian labor force of the
country in 1996-97 was estimated at 42.97 million, of which 34.7 million were male and 8.27
million were female. These figures, however excluded the female labor force engaged in
activities like poultry, livestock, paddy husking, preservation of food etc. conducted in rural
households and considered as domestic work rather than economic.

Country 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Bangladesh 9 5.8 5.8 3.1 5.6 6 7 7.2 9.1 8.9
Question:

 Why Bangladesh suffers from large-scale underemployment in agriculture sector?

 Why educated youths are unemployed in Bangladesh?
 Why many people are unemployed in public sector?
 Why formal sector doesn’t enough to take care of the huge number of unemploymed?
 Why government can’t control the inflation rate?
 Why the growth rate of unemployment is rising?

Literature review:

Sector wise Unemployment:

Labor force by occupation (in 2008):

 Agriculture 45%
 Industry 30%
 Services 25%

Agriculture
Most Bangladeshis earn their living from agriculture. Rice, jute, maize and vegetables are
the primary crops assuming greater importance along with wheat, sugarcane, potatoes,
tobacco, pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruit, beef, milk, and poultry. Due to the expansion of
irrigation networks, some wheat producers have switched to cultivation of maize which is
used mostly as poultry feed. Tea is grown in the northeast. Because of Bangladesh's fertile
soil and normally ample water supply, rice can be grown and harvested three times a year in
many areas.

Due to a number of factors, Bangladesh's labor-intensive agriculture has achieved steady

increases in food grain production despite often unfavorable weather conditions. Better
flood control and irrigation, more efficient use of fertilizers, and establishment of better
distribution and rural credit networksMost Bangladeshis earn their living from agriculture.
Rice, jute, maize and vegetables are the primary crops assuming greater importance along
with wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, tobacco, pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruit, beef, milk, and
poultryeasonal hunger ("Monga") remains a constant problem. Underemployment remains
a serious problem, and a growing concern for Bangladesh's agricultural sector will be
decided by its ability to absorb additional manpower. Too much manpower is underused by
 disguised unemployment, particularly with the increasing numbers of landless peasants
who are about half the labor force. As the labour needed only seasonally, about 40% of the
agricultural population is underemployed; many participants in the labor force work only a
few hours a week, at low wages. Due to farmers' vulnerability to risks, they face numerous
potential limitations to enhance agriculture production and their livelihoods. Uneducated
farmers avoid investing in new agricultural technologies and activities despite their
potential to increase income. On the other hand technological advancement reduces
manpower, causing more unemployment.

Manufacturing

Many new jobs have been created by private ready-made garment industry, which grew
at double-digit rates through most of the 1990s. By the late 90s, about 1.5 million people,
mostly women, were employed in the garments sector as well as Leather products specially
Footwear (Shoe manufacturing). During 2001-2002, export earnings from ready-made
garments reached $3,125 million, representing 52% of Bangladesh's total exports.
Bangladesh overtook India in apparel exports in 2009, at 2.66 billion US dollar, ahead of
India's 2.27 billion US dollar.

Bengal was known for its fine Maslin and silk fabric, still produces Jamdani & Benarasi which
is a large industry. Other industries which have shown very strong growth include the
chemical industry, steel industry, mining industry and the paper and pulp industry.
Sugar,cotton textiles, jute made products, Shrimp & frozen fish, seafood, garments, tea
processing, newsprint paper, cement, chemical fertilizer, light engineering, etc. provides
job to many.

The shutting down of “Adamjee Jute Mills” in 2002 made 25000 workers lose their job. As
the growth of industry is not significantly high in the country [6.4% (2009 est.)], the country
suffers severely of unemployment. Wages in Bangladesh's textile industry were the lowest
in the world as of 2010. The country was considered the most formidable rival to China
where wages were rapidly rising and currency was appreciating. Corruption, poor
infrastructure, insufficient power supplies, and slow implementation of economic reforms
rarely encourage foreign investors, which eventually minimizes more job opportunities &
promotes unemployment.

Service In the Service sector is seriously slow to meet the rising numbers of new work force
that enters the job market each year. For a massive 73.87 million labor force new job
 opportunities opening is too low. Bangladesh extensively exports of labors to Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait, Libya, UAE, Oman, Qatar, and Malaysia; workers' remittances estimated at $10.9
billion in 2009-10 provide a strong helping hand to the economy of the country. In recent
years as the rate of literacy has increased, there is a rise in the number of educated work
force available. Due to the lower number of available jobs they are not fully used. Many of
these doctors, engineers, etc. are immigrating to countries with better career opportunity.
These educated assets are underused either by inappropriate job or being jobless.

District wise Unemployment:

There are several area wise unemployment tendencies in Bangladesh. Northern districts of
Rajshahi & Rangpur divisions face massive drought due to the rivers drying up, many of the
farmers & agricultural workers have faced unemployment & eventually had to move to other
professions. During the 70’s, the Sylhet districts had major employment problem which lead
many of them to immigrate to UK & other countries. In the hilly districts of the Chittagong when
the “Joom” harvesting was outlawed, many of the traditional aboriginal farmers had to face
temporary unemployment. After non-CNG vehicles were removed from Dhaka, many drivers
moved to other districts to avoid unemployment.

Problems Created by Unemployment:

 Poverty: High number of unemployed members of the country is one of the prime
reasons of poverty. These workers are either jobless or underpaid. Population below
poverty line 36.3% (2008 est.) is a massive number to cope with a nation with a
population of 142.3 million (census 15/03/2011 result). As poverty on the rise, the
government under debt there is rarely any opportunities of new jobs. So this process
gets bad to worse by time.

 Law & Order: Unemployed members of the society are often drawn to crimes to earn
living. When a man finds no means to feed himself, in desperation they move to illegal
way to earn. 70% crime rate can be reduced by only giving them legal way to earn their
living. Increase in crime rate is proportional to unemployment rate.

 Urban Overpopulation: Lower development & work activities effects in rural-urban

migration in Bangladesh, influences moving to a large city is found to be determined by
the urban bias in planning both by national and international authorities, and by the
public amenities and resources available in the urban areas. An analysis of the levels and
 trends in urbanization reveals the notable role of rural-urban migration in the rapid
growth of the urban population. Most migrants are young, unmarried males of working
age. A case study of migrants in Dhaka City illustrates the reasons for and consequences
of migration. It is concluded that rural-urban migration is mainly a survival strategy of
the rural unemployment.

 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rate decrease: Bangladesh’s GDP - real growth rate is
5.8% (2010 est.) Bangladesh, considered as a developing economy with GDP such low
compared to other developing nations. Bangladesh’s economic progress has all along
been unsatisfactory and a high unemployment rate does not help to change the GDP
progress more.

 Lower Standard of Living: Poverty along with unemployment holds back the nation’s
economy and does not allow improving life standards. The unemployed population can
hardly manage a full meal a day, let alone other facilities.

 Burden to the Nation: The unemployed population is a burden itself to the nation and
its government. They can neither improve their own life nor can they help the nation to
progress. The nation has to suffer for this huge inactive population & they hold back the
economic progress.

Government Policy Towards Unemployment:

The government has several projects to increase employment among the mass. The main objective
of the government policy is to create self-employment by training & encouraging small business
among the mass. Government has undertaken a high budget “Youth Training Program” to create
trained workforce in the country. Government’s road & highway development projects provide jobs
 to many. Women development ministry has training centers for women to create self employment.
Bangladesh Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) also work to provide workers
who want to work abroad. Ministry of Labor and Employment’s vision is to reduce unemployment &
poverty through productive employment & human resource development by maintaining good
industrial relation & relation development between workers & employers. Their plan is to create
employment opportunities, create semi-skilled & skilled manpower, Enhance productivity of
Factories by creating Friendly working environment between workers & Employers, Ensure welfare
of workers in different industrial area & implement Labor-Laws to fix up minimum wages of labor &
in severe cases ensure justice through Labor Court. After massive labor unrest in 2006 the
government formed a Minimum Wage Board including business and worker representatives which
in 2006 set a minimum wage equivalent to 1,662.50 taka, $24 a month, up from Tk950. In 2010,
following widespread labor protests involving 100,000 workers in June, 2010, a controversial
proposal was being considered by the Board which would raise the monthly minimum to the
equivalent of $50 a month, still far below worker demands of 5,000 taka, $72, for entry level wages,
but unacceptably high according to textile manufacturers who are asking for a wage below $30. On
July 28, 2010 it was announced that the minimum entry level wage would be increased to 3,000
taka, about $43.The government also believes some change is necessary. On September 21, 2006,
government ordered textile firms to ensure the safety of workers complying with international labor
law.

Private Organizations & NGO Activities:

Several private organizations such as The Grameen Bank, Proshika, Save the Children, Brac, ASA, WBTF,
etc. are working in the country to increase employment rate. Grameen Bank founder, Dr. Younus & his
microcredit scheme has earned its reputation worldwide. Grameen Bank allows loan to the poor &
helpless people, especially women of villages. They encourage them to invest this money for productive
purposes. Their target is to self-employ the unemployed. They give loan for small business, buying lands,
making firms, etc. Microcredit policy gives loans without through trust. This helps those people who
have nothing to bail & enables them make enough capital to start business. The NGO’s gives training to
men-women & promote cottage industries. This allows them to be self-dependent & creates more jobs.
There are several privately run employment agencies & job sites that provide job, mostly for the
educated & students.
 Data collection:
All data are collected by Labor Force Survey 2010.

Table 1. Unemployment rate of population aged 15 years and over by sex and residence

Total Male Female

Residence
No. of Unemploymen No. of Unemploymen No. of Unemploymen
unemploye t rate (%) unemploye t rate (%) unemploye t rate (%)
d d d
population population population
2010
Banglades 2568 4.5 1595 4.1 973 5.7
h
Urban 858 6.5 524 5.7 334 8.3
Rural 1710 4.0 1011 3.6 639 4.9
2005-2006
Banglades 2104 4.3 1250 3.4 854 7.0
h
Urban 505 4.3 315 3.6 190 6.7
Rural 1599 4.2 935 3.3 664 7.2

According to LFS 2010, the rate of unemployment stands at 4.5% which was 4.3% in 2005-2006.
In the urban area, the unemployment rate was 6.5% in 2010, where it was 4.3% in 2005-06. On
the other hand, the rate was 4.0% in the rural area in 2010 which was 4.2% in 2005-06. The rate
of unemployment for male was 4.1% in 2010 and it was 3.4% in 2005-06. In the urban area, the
unemployment rate for male was 5.7% in 2010 which was to 3.6% in 2005-06. In rural area ,the
rate was 3.6% in 2010 and 3.3% in 2005-06. For the females, the unemployment rate of urban
and rural was 5.7% , 8.3% and 4.9% in 2010 which was 7.0%, 6.7% and 7.2% in 2005-06.
Table 2. Unemployment rate by age, sex and residence

Age group Bangladesh Urban Rural

Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female

Total 4.5 4.1 5.7 6.5 5.7 8.3 4.0 3.6 4.9
15-19 10.6 9.8 11.4 12.4 11.7 13.4 10.1 9.8 10.6
20-24 7.1 6.8 7.7 9.9 8.7 11.5 6.3 6.2 6.4
25-29 5.4 4.3 7.3 7.9 6.3 10.8 4.6 3.7 6.2
30-34 4.2 3.8 4.8 5.6 5.0 6.9 3.6 3.4 4.0
35+ 2.4 2.4 2.7 3.9 3.9 3.8 2.0 1.9 2.4

Figure: Unemployment rate by age, sex and residence

12.00

10.00

8.00

6.00 Male
Female

4.00

2.00

0.00
15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35+
It is observed from the table that, at the national level, the highest unemployed rate was
found is age group 15-19 (10.6%) followed by age group 20-24 (7.1%) and 25-29 (5.4%). This
pattern also follows in case of male & females. In case of female the highest unemployment
rate was observed in 15-19 (11.4%) followed by 20-24 (7.7%) and 25-29 (7.3%).

It is notable that unemployment rate is lower in all age group in the rural area compared to
urban area. The unemployment rate of females in the urban areas were higher in all groups
compared to urban area.

Table 3. Educated labor force aged 15 years and over and educated unemployment rate

Characteristics Bangladesh Urban Rural

Total Male Femal Total Male Femal Total Male Female

e e
Educated labor 33987 23972 10015 9509 6784 2725 24478 1718 7290
force 8
Educated 32037 22725 9312 8783 6337 2446 23254 1638 6866
employed persons 8
Educated 1951 1247 703 726 447 279 1224 800 424
unemployed
persons
Educated 5.74 5.20 7.02 7.63 6.59 10.24 5.00 4.65 5.82
unemployment
rate
 Figure: Educated unemployment rate by sex and residence

12

10

6 Series 1
Series 2
Series 3
4

0
Bangladesh Urban Rural

It is seen that at the national level, the unemployment rate for educated person was 5.74%
for both sexes, 5.20% for male and 7.02% for female. In the urban area, such rate for both
sexes, male and female was 7.63%, 5.59% and 10.24% respectively. In the rural area, the
corresponding unemployment rates were 5.0%, 4.65% and 5.82% respectively.

Result & Discussion :

Most Bangladeshis earn their living from agriculture. Underemployment remains a serious
problem, and a growing concern for Bangladesh's agricultural sector will be decided by its
ability to absorb additional manpower. Too much manpower is underused by disguised
unemployment, particularly with the increasing numbers of landless peasants who are about
half the labor force. As the labour needed only seasonally, about 40% of the agricultural
population is underemployed; many participants in the labor force work only a few hours a
week, at low wages. Uneducated farmers avoid investing in new agricultural technologies and
activities despite their potential to increase income. On the other hand technological
advancement reduces manpower, causing more unemployment.
Educated unemployment is unemployment among people with academic education. A
country's economy becomes more productive  as the proportion of educated workers 
increases, since educated workers are able to carry out their tasks more efficiently.  Better-
educated workers tend to be more  productive. Education and skill enhancing activities
increase  the level of productivity. The recent developments instead of mitigating the problems
of unemployment among the  educated youth in Bangladesh have, in fact, aggravated the
problem of unemployment in the country. Employments occur within the private sector are
mostly in the semi-skilled or low skilled areas. Thus, very little employment opportunities are
generated for the educated youths.  The important aspect of the failure to have job is that this
led the educated youth towards inactivity Effects of Educated Unemployment on an  Economy
From Okun's law we know that for every 1% rises in unemployment, potential GNP falls by
about 2%. The education system should be adjusted linking  with required labor demands in
various sectors of the economy. Technical education can be emphasized to fill up the increasing
demand for technical manpower both in local as well as to enter into skilled global manpower
market which appears to be a huge opportunity for our hardworking and talented youths.

Bangladesh has been suffering from a sort of economic growth stagnation with its GDP growing
between 5.0 and 6.8 per cent for the last several years. At this moment, we need to adopt an
expansionary economic policy so that we can increase production, productivity and consequent
employment generation through higher investment. Inflation has to be reduced by increasing
productivity and supply and by decreasing average production cost. As a result, the overall
national production, per capital income, economic growth and employment opportunities will
increase
Conclusion
Unemployment is a great curse to a nation. We cannot expect the development of our country
leaving its millions of the people unemployment to survive as a boastful nation. We should
make all out efforts to get rid of this curse. Analysis of this study tries to indicate this
phenomenon by focusing of the skills/qualification (apart from degree, certificate, and diploma)
that are considered as important for graduates' employ ability by the corporate bodies of
Bangladesh.
 Appendix:

·         Unemployment rate - comparative map

·         www.1888articles.com/unemployment-problem-in-bangladesh-0107822.html

·         www.oppapers.com/.../unemployment-problem-in-bangladesh-page1.html -

·         matrixsearches.com/article.php?id=153902&act=p

·         www.scribd.com/doc/17481892/Unemployment-1

·         www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/search_index.php?.]

·         Problem Facts and statistics about the Unemployment rate

of Bangladesh. msinbangladesh.blogspot.com/.../unemployment-problem-in-bangladesh.

·         www.indexmundi.com › Bangladesh › Economy –

·         classifieds1000.com/Bangladesh/Unemployment/unemployment_problem?...

·         www.cyberessays.com/.../unemployment-problem-in-Bangladesh/page180.htms

·         www.unescap.org/esid/meetings/migration/ Bangladesh.pdf

·         www.blogtopsites.com/tag/unemployment+problem+in+bangladesh

·         https://www.cia.gov/library/.../the.../bg.html -