Another 1 lakh graduates joined job hunt last year
Over 1 lakh youth with higher academic degrees joined the already long rally of graduates in a gruelling search for jobs last year, according to the latest official data, as experts point to an oversupply of graduates and a lack of skills among them.
In 2023, the overall number of unemployed tertiary graduates, including university, college and madrasa graduates, stood at 9.06 lakh, up from 7.99 lakh a year ago, according to the latest data of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. The unemployment rate among persons with tertiary-level education rose to 13.11 percent in 2023 from 12 percent a year ago, as per the statistics bureau's Labour Force Survey 2023.
In the face of rising youth unemployment, disappointment and frustration accumulating over the years, students organised a nationwide movement in July, seeking job quota reform in public recruitment.
This frustration, which boiled over after a series of retaliatory measures from the government, climaxed in the fall of the Awami League government and the ouster of prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India.
Recently, a white paper on the current state of the economy also termed the employability and labour market dynamics as a "ticking time bomb" in their 397-page report, which was submitted to the Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus on Sunday.
"The graduates are not only oversupplied, they are ill-prepared for the market and have little skills, both hard and soft, to offer," the paper said.
"The most unemployed tertiary graduates come from colleges and they are unable to compete in the job market," said Kazi Iqbal, a research director at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).
According to official data, the country's 55 public universities last year had about 10.5 lakh, or 68 percent of enrolled students. The remaining 32 percent were enrolled in 116 private universities.
Besides, some 1,941 tertiary-level colleges, that award honours and master's degrees, had about 41.8 lakh enrolled students.
Iqbal said a large number of those colleges were established in the last 10 to 15 years.
Official data shows that about 60 percent of public university students were studying arts and social sciences, 24 percent commerce and only 12 percent science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
However, enrollment in STEM fields was much lower in tertiary colleges.
According to the white paper, the fact that the share of STEM graduates is low can merely reflect the structure of the economy with low demand for them.
"That is, unless the economic growth is propelled by high-tech industries and services including ICT, the demand for STEM graduates will remain low," it said.
"It is a catch-22 situation, which is why integration of education policy with industrial policy is critical."
The service and industry sectors mostly rely more on professionals and technicians who have completed secondary or higher secondary education, i.e., technical graduates than university graduates, it observed.
White-collar jobs make up about 9 percent of employment opportunities in industries and 23 percent in the service sectors, according to the Labour Force Survey 2022.
On the demand side, the country is witnessing slow-growth investment in recent years. This may have contributed to the higher unemployment rate, said Iqbal.
"The rate at which the number of colleges has increased unplanned in the country, the number of unemployed graduates may increase in the coming days," Iqbal said.
Echoing similar sentiments, Rizwanul Islam, a former special adviser for the employment sector at the International Labour Office (ILO) in Geneva, said the causes can be found from both demand and supply sides.
On the demand side, Islam said economic growth has not been able to create enough jobs for the growing number of graduates coming to the labour market.
"Growth of formal sector jobs where graduates seek employment is inadequate," he added.
On the supply side, there is a mismatch between the kind of qualifications and skills required in the labour market and those produced by the education system, he added.
About the implications, the former ILO official said this causes the waste of valuable resources because society and individuals aren't getting appropriate returns from investment in education.
"The economy is unable to reap the demographic dividend that is potentially available."
Islam also said unemployment at the beginning of one's career leaves a scar on the career path of educated job-seekers.
"Research shows that those who have to wait for a long time for their first job tend to remain behind others in their career trajectory. This is known as the scarring effect."
He also feared that unemployment among the youth could contribute to social instability.
BIDS research director Iqbal thinks the country needs to revisit its workforce strategy because it is producing a huge number of graduates without specific plans.
This can be handled with a long-term plan and the government should focus on technical and vocational education and training rather than tertiary-level colleges.
"The interim government can show the way," he said.
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