Prepared for: Sabahat Jahan

Eng 105 Sec-7

Prepared by: Golam M Shabbir Rahman

(073140020)
Titles Page#

Abstract 3

Introduction 4

Background 6

Hypothesis 7

Research Methodology 11

Survey/Questionnaire 12

Summary of Findings 19

Recommendations 20

Conclusion 21

References 22

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 Abstract

Bangladesh is a country of tremendous possibilities. And such possibilities came with the help of
the youth which dominates the population structure of the country. With their effort and
knowledge Bangladesh would be able to have a good future in the coming years. But for some
reason we have been focusing less on their true power and nature especially when it comes to
considering their employment conditions. Yet it is gradually growing and in spite of such
inattention it has contributed to the development of the youth itself and also towards the growth
of the economy of Bangladesh. Moreover the youth not only got benefitted individually
regarding decision making and more attention towards career developing but it also has helped
the youth to diversify knowledge. The main intention behind this changing mindset of the youth
to get employed is to get acquainted with professionalism, being independent financially and in
decision-making, gathering more experience, and enriching their career. The youth were backed
up by their families but surprisingly there were instances when they had to face problems
because of their parents or guardians due to some orthodox mindset. I have tried my best to
incorporate findings and such relations as much as possible in my research. Still there is an
immense portion of my research which is imperfect, due to time constraint and lack of proper
resource, and I hope to cover further in other courses in the future.

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 Introduction

Since Independence, Bangladesh has remained successful in achieving sustainable growth. A

number of factors have added to such success, starting with the transmission of the agricultural
sector to modern industrialized sector, growth of the service sector, to developing employment
opportunities and the list continues. But the country has its problems also. The main problem lies
in the growing number of population with constrained resources. Structure of developing
countries suggests that the greater part of the population consists of the youth and this youth
generation has been constantly struggling in terms of employment, the attitude towards
employment opportunities and the response towards the future professional world. On one side
they are trying to adjust themselves as well as possible to the professional etiquettes and
activities and on the other side they have to handle pressures from people who have not been
supportive to their attitudes- our parents and teachers. Despite such scuffles and lack of
attention the enhancing nature of this youth employment would help students and the younger
generation to get more acquainted with professionalism and therefore would prepare them
towards building a stronger foundation for a successful professional life in the future.

I have focused on the youth group which is aged between 19 to 24 years old and currently
working besides studying.

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The population pyramid above shows the major portion of the population consists of the people
aged 15- 19 years and 20-24 years, which is the focus of my research. This youth group of today
is the working age group of tomorrow which means an initial development of these people may
give a better result in the future.

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 Background

Definition:

Youth employment mainly refers to the young students, mainly under-graduates and graduates,
being engaged in informal or formal economy, self employment and part-time jobs. The
historical background is not very strong. According to “Youth Work Ireland”(2007), “formal
youth work or employment started in the 1920s under the youth club activities of Dublin”.

Secondary sources:

The International Labor Organization (ILO) (2001) states, “There are more than 1 billion young
people between the ages of 15 and 24, and 85% of them live in developing countries.” The trend
that has been occurring for the last 4 or 5 decades in terms of youth employment started mainly
in the first world countries. Towards the end of 1950s, in America, students held jobs like baby-
sitting, snow shoveling, mowing lawns, delivering papers, etc. Those students who were working
were from poor families. Later onwards, in the 1980s, they started working mostly in restaurants
but at that point most of the students had jobs whether they had financial constraints or not. They
worked to become independent, to have some sort financial back-up. According to Minot (n.d.),
“They worked so that they could spend $60 to $100 a week on designer jeans, rock concerts,
stereo and video systems and of course cars.” The whole trend has continued throughout the
world and it also touched Bangladesh. I remember my father said that he had to bring wood to
his house in the morning to get breakfast suggesting that he is from a poor family. Very recently
the mindset of the youth generation has changed in Bangladesh. From the census of 2006,
documents from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) suggest that trend has been
increasing.

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The table above shows that how much the employment among the youth has increased over the
timeline. According to the census, the distribution among 15-19 years old has increased by 4% in
2005-2006 period compared to 2002-2003 for men whereas for women it has decreased but for
the 20-24 age groups it has an increasing trend. Reason behind such decline may due to the
improvement in the socio-economic factors towards girls as proper educational facilities should
be given before they get employed. But overall the factors that led to such an increasing trend
towards youth employment are:

Injection of the
Hiking prices Augmenting needs
western culture

Monetary problems
related with
growing family
structure

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But the most important factors that led to the growth of youth employment are (1) the urge to
gather experience and (2) to get acquainted with the professional world, which shows that the
youth is gradually becoming career oriented and it is developing the human resource of
Bangladesh. However the growth has been constrained for various reasons.

Nothing is problem free, so is youth employment. There are a number of constraints which is
holding down the growth of youth employment but I felt that two factors are worth considering.
First of all as the youth are getting involved in different jobs they are not able to put efforts in
their studies. According to Minot (n.d.), “Most students look upon studies as a spare-time
activity.” No doubt that these students would suffer for paying less attention to their studies.
Minot (n.d.) even commented about his country saying, “Our economy will continue to decline
as full-time students from Japan and Europe continue to out- perform our part-time students.”
And so this problem led to the emergence of the second problem- lack of support and
misinterpretation by parents and guardians towards this issue. In America parents were not
bothered because they believed doing part-time jobs would allow students to learn the value of
money and moreover parents refused to throw their hard-earned money away. But in countries
like us things are a little different. Most students work here keeping in mind the fact that the job
should not hamper their studies and to get adjusted with professional working environment but
parents believe that the job is not worth it. They feel that getting involved in such activities
would only waste their valuable time which they could have spent studying and preparing for the
exams.

So in order to find out the actual scenario I have conducted the research in order to answer the
following questions:

- Reasons that drive students to be employed

- The possible advantages of youth employment

-the perception of guardians and employers towards this concept

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Along with this aforementioned objectives, I have also tried to find out whether their job
experiences is helping students to take better decision and whether they are becoming more
focused on their career.

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 Hypothesis

After getting enrolled in North South University, I got involved into working besides studying
because not only I wanted to have some extra pocket money but also to be financially
independent but most importantly to get adjusted with professional world and during this period I
was never backed up by my close ones especially my teachers and parents as they thought it will
only affect my studies negatively and the outcome of such work is non-beneficial. Therefore I
thought that why not conduct a research which will present the main purpose of students who are
working besides studying.

So I believe Youth employment helps students to get more acquainted with professionalism
and therefore prepares them and lays the foundation for a successful professional life in the
future.

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 Research Methodology

The methodology for my research was divided into two parts. First, my primary research, which
included survey conducted among employed students. My questionnaire was designed to get
answers from different angles to help me find answers to my research questions. I have also
included two different people from different background related to the youth employment
concept. And my secondary research included journals, magazines, books and online information
from various sources.

Research Questions:

1. How many hours a week do you invest in working besides studying?

2. How much do you earn on a monthly basis?
3. Do you think being employed while studying places you in an advantageous position than
those students who are not employed? Mention how.
4. What basically prompted you to work besides studying?
5. Do your parents or guardian support the idea of you working besides studying?
6. What kind of perception should the guardians have in this idea according to you?
7. Has this idea of working besides studying ever affected your CGPA?
8. Did your job experience help you take better decision and made more focused on your
career?
9. Are you helping your family economically through this job?
10. Is the concept of youth employment helping the overall economy at all?
11. Assuming that the economy of the country will be more enriched in the future, how much
do you think the concept of youth employment will hold then?

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 Survey/Questionnaire

The questionnaire includes 8 single choice questions, 2 open-ended questions and 1 multiple
choice question. For the primary research, the total sample size of the conducted survey was 30
young employed students from various backgrounds of different departments in North South
University. Out of which 17 students were male and 13 students were female. This clearly
portrays the concentration of young males work predominantly over females. The average age of
the youth is 19-24 years. I have also interviewed two people. One person is the employer of an
organization, which employs young students for part-time jobs. Another person is a guardian
whose child is involved in youth employment.

Research Question 1

My first enquiry was to find out how many hours the students have invested in working besides
studying and how much they have earned on a monthly basis. There are two important factors
that should be considered before answering this question. One factor is that students invest time
because (1) It is a pre-requirement to their job (2) students value and preference towards their job
i.e. either it‟s in one‟s own interest to invest time over that job or it‟s the money drawing factor-
so it stands as “the more you work the more you get paid”. Therefore the more time the student
spends over the job the less time he or she has for studying. And also the lesser the time student
is studying the more eager the student is towards his or her job.

For the first question, how many hours a week do students invest in working beside studying, I
have given four options(1)10-15 hours (2) 16-20 hours (3)21-30 hours and (4)more than 30
hours. For the next question, earnings on a monthly basis, 4 brackets have been used (1) less than
tk.8000 (2) tk.8001-12000(3) tk.12001-tk.18000 (4) more than tk.18000.

Out of 30 respondents, 16(53.3%) of them spent 10-15hours every week on their job and only
2(6.67%) of them spent more than 30 hours a week, and for the rest of the students the
percentage gradually declines as the number of hours per week increases. The result is very
much similar to the next question- earnings on a monthly basis. 16(53.3%) respondents earns less

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than Tk.8000 and only 3(10%) of them earns more than Tk.18000. Therefore the relationship
between the two is directly proportional.

Research Question 2

My second and one of the most important questions was to find out whether the students
acknowledge themselves to be in an advantageous position compared to the students who are not
employed. This was an open-ended question which requires the respondent to answer how he or
she thinks about his or her position. This was done to understand how much people‟s perception
varies.

The question had two options: a „yes‟ or a „no‟.

A mass portion of the respondents replied yes to this question which was 27(90%) of 30
respondents which means they believe that they are in advantageous position compared to others
who are not employed.

Response Question 3

These were the primary research questions and through these I wanted to find out (1) the main
reason that led students to work besides studying and (2) whether the job experience helps
students to take better decision and to become more focused on their career. The first was a
multiple choice question to see whether their choice varies with options and not to prioritize one
particular option followed by the second question with four options.

There were four options for the first question-what basically prompted student to work besides
studying:

(1) To be financially independent: defining that students after getting paid feel that they are
financially secured and gives them the power to be independent.

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(2) To earn pocket money: defining that most of the students were not used to getting
handsomely paid for their pocket expenses from their parents. Therefore they worked to have an
extra amount of pocket money to spend on different things or even to feel financially secured.

(3) To get acquainted with professionalism: Being employed puts them ahead by getting adjusted
with the professional world and its etiquettes. They would also get to learn the professional
environment and how to work with their colleagues.

(4) To gain experience: Students work to gain experience of how it feels to work with things
which is related to their academic backgrounds and even to get used to the professional working
environment. Sometimes its for the recommendation letters that they will receive from
companies which will make them more worthwhile for companies.

To be financially independent
7%
23%
23% To earn pocket money

To get acquainted with

21% professionalism
26% To gain experience

others

So answers which included “to get acquainted with professionalism” weigh 40% of the total
responses which is the maximum of all other options. If taken separately, “to get acquainted with
professionalism” weighs 26% of all other options which is relatively higher than any other
option.

For the second question-whether job experience help students to take better decisions and make
them more focused in their career: four options were provided and students had to choose
according to their preference-

(1) all the time (2)most of the time (3)Rarely (4)not at all.

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 Did the job experience help students to take better
decisions and make them more focused in their
career?

7% 13% all the time

27% Most of the time
rarely
Not at all
53%

And so 16(53%) out of 30 agreed that “most of the time” this concept helped them to take better
decision and made them more focused on their career. Therefore these findings agree with my
expected results and with my hypothesis.

Research question 4

This part consisted of related questions. First one was whether the parents or guardian supports
their (students‟) idea of working besides studying and it was followed by an open-ended question
asking for the sort of perception or attitude should the guardians have regarding this matter
according to the students. And the third question was whether the idea of youth employment has
ever affected students CGPA. These questions were incorporated in regard to my personal
experience and the information that I have gathered from secondary sources about parents or
teachers who are not in favor of this idea.

For both the questions-„whether parents and guardians support the idea of working beside
studying‟ and „has the idea of working beside studying affected students‟ CGPA‟ - two options
were provided: a „yes‟ or a „no‟.

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 parents supporting the concept of youth
employment

16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Male Female
Yes 16 10
No 1 3

As we can see out of the 13 female respondents, 3 of them did not get a good reply from their
parents whereas only 1 of the male respondents replied similar to that. So it means that the
society is aware of the socio-economic situation of Bangladesh and with time circumstances will
improve for the economy as a whole.

The third question gave striking answers. It was a 50-50 scenario stating that the concept has
affected them both positively and negatively. Therefore it can easily be mentioned that working
besides studying is a tough job and there should be a striking balance between the two.

Research question 5

This is the ending part. Questions include whether students are helping their families financially,
how is it helping the overall economy, and the concept of youth employment‟s sustainability in
the long run. These questions are incorporated in order to recognize whether the students

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responsibility towards their families have forced them to work besides studying and to know the
sustainability factor.

For the question- „how much students are helping their family‟ – four options were provided and
students had to choose according to the level of support: (1) all the time (2)most of the time
(3)Rarely (4)not at all. For the second question- „whether the concept of youth employment will
help the overall economy‟- three options were provided: (1) It will help the economy grow (2) It
will not have any major effects on the economy (3) It will have no effects. And the last question-
„Assuming that the economy of the country will be more enriched in the future, how much do
you think the concept of youth employment will hold then‟ – had three options: (1)Youth
employment will be redundant (2) Youth employment will remain exclusively for professional
cause and (3)You the employment will exist regardless of the situation.

25(83.33%) out of 30 respondents jointly replied that they are not working for anyone but for
themselves i.e. the selected „rarely‟ and „not at all‟.

23(76.67%) out of 30 respondents believed that the concept of youth employment will help the
economy grow. Moreover the same number of respondents agreed that this concept of “youth
employment will exist regardless of the situation.”

Summary of Interviews:

Mr. K.M.Jahidur Rahman works as marketing manager in a student consultancy firm. The firm
employs young students for part-time jobs and these students help the firm to create a network
among students. He shares his views saying student nowadays work for the extra bit of
experience that they can gain from any firm as it will help them for their future career. He thinks
that parents nowadays should accept things in a broader way. He believes that students who are
not working are gossiping around or spending valuable time doing nothing. So the students need
to be encouraged, by their parents or teachers, to attend jobs and that will enrich his or her
professional career. And as far as the sustainability is concerned, he believes youth employment
will sustain in the long run.

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Mr. Debabrata Datta‟s daughter works besides studying. His daughter teaches students. Though
at a young age he was involved with youth employment, he believes education has to be given
the topmost priority and if the priority is ensured only then students might think of attending jobs
besides studying. He doesn‟t like seeing his daughter working at this point of time. He also says
that considering the socio-economic situation of the country and this sub-continent, parents
should be a little strict towards girls. He agrees that youth employment will continue to remain in
the long run.

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 Summary of findings

 The concept of youth employment is strong and can prove to be beneficial in the future.
With the help of the research it has been found that students believe that being employed
besides studying puts them in advantageous position compared to students who are not
employed. Being employed, not only can they get well acquainted with professionalism,
being financially independent, gaining experience, earning extra pocket money but also
helps students to take better decisions and make them more focused towards their career
most of the time.
 Parents and teachers attitude towards this concept is changing and they don‟t discourage
students to take part in youth employment. They also believe the whole idea should be
kept under control considering that the socio-economic situation of the economy doesn‟t
get disturbed.
 The concept of youth employment will sustain in the long run and it will help the
economy grow as it has contributed to the economic growth of the economy and it has
also provided employment opportunities to the young age groups.

So the hypothesis has been proved true.

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 Recommendations

One question was incorporated in my research questionnaire asking what sort of perception
students expect from their parents. Different students have put different recommendations
regarding this question.

 Parents should support the concept as long as it‟s not affecting student‟s education
and social life. If students are confident about themselves and they can strike a proper
balance between studying and working then there is no harm in doing that and they
should be supported accordingly.
 Whatever the situation is, education should be given the first priority over working.
 Importance has to be given to the fact that craving for money might lead students to
indulge in wrong doings. Students often become greedy through process of earning
money and this leads them to get involved in anti-social activities e.g. drugs. So
constant monitoring and proper guidance by parents and teachers is highly expected
in this case.
 The concept of being employed makes students believe that they are becoming
independent and this self-dependency should be encouraged. It is believed earning
money makes students realize the value of money and money only comes with hard
and strong effort. In a way this also makes students to have respect towards their
parents as how they have financially supported their children in every step of their
life.
 Students should not overload themselves with work. Because after getting back from
work they should have enough time and energy to spend on studies and if it‟s not
there then proper balance cannot be maintained. Teachers and parents are expected to
look into this matter seriously as they should look out for the sort of jobs their
children are performing and how much time and effort those jobs require.

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 Conclusion

This research was conducted in the light to show the benefits that the youth enjoys due to
employment. Although the concept of youth employment is new to Bangladesh, people are trying
their best to incorporate such a concept in their culture. Youth employment has been found to be
a significant contributor to the economy in the long run as a result it becomes our primary duty to
accept the whole idea whole-heartedly. For this we need the active support of parents, guardians
and teachers only as long as being involved in employment activities does not harm the students
in anyway.

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 References

Gender Statistics of Bangladesh.(2008). Retrieved April20, 2010,

from www.bbs.gov.bd/dataindex/statisticsbook.pdf

Minot, W.S. (n.d.). Students who push burgers. Eng 105: Advanced Comprehension. 65-66.

Pyramide Bangladesh.(2005). Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved April 20, 2010,

from upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Pyramide_Bangladesh.PNG

Youth Employment Report. (2003). Work and Employment. Retrieved March 9, 2010,

from www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/documents/ch02.pdf.

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