Job Opportunity: Higher degree, lesser scope

The more degrees you obtain, the more you run the risk of remaining unemployed.

It may sound odd, but it's true if we go by a latest government survey.

Conducted by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics between December 2013 and June 2015, the survey shows that unemployment rate was the highest among people having tertiary education.

The rate among them rose to 9 percent in June 2015 from 6.7 percent in December 2013. It, however, was higher among women than men, says the Quarterly Labour Force Survey Bangladesh 2015-16 released yesterday.

Interestingly, the unemployment rate among people without any schooling was the lowest, as only 2.2 percent of them were unemployed during the survey period.

The rate, however, was 6.2 percent among those having secondary or post-secondary level education.

The number of students pursuing higher degrees has increased over the years, so has unemployment rate among people having higher education.

One such unemployed person is Hasibur Rahman.

Completing his master's degree from a reputed college under the National University three years ago, Hasibur has been relentlessly searching for a job.

Every day he looks for job advertisements on websites and in newspapers.

He already sat a number of recruitment tests at government and private organisations in the capital, but to no avail.

"Even after trying for so many times, I haven't got a job. It is frustrating. I don't know what I would do if I fail to get a job," said Hasibur, who has to bring money from his parents in Khulna every month to meet his living expenses in the capital.

Son of a trader, Hasibur moved to the capital at the end of 2013 in search of a job.

Talking to The Daily Star, Kabir Uddin Ahmed, director of Statistics and Information Division of the BBS, said, "One of the reasons behind the high unemployment rate is that many of those wait for comparatively formal and well-paid jobs after completing tertiary education."

Another reason is the mismatch between their educational qualifications and the nature of jobs, he said.

Rushidan Islam Rahman, executive chairperson of the Centre for Development and Employment Research (CDER), said the quality of education in the country is not up to the mark.

She stressed the need for enhancing the quality of higher education with a special focus on skill development.

According to the University Grants Commission, around 33 lakh students are now pursuing higher education in the country.

UNEMPLOYED YOUTHS

The number of youths aged 15 to 29 is 4.16 crore and around half of them have already entered the country's labour force, says the survey.

An estimated 1.89 crore youths -- 1.27 crore men and 63 lakh women -- were employed, while 19 lakh youths were unemployed during the period between December 2013 and June 2015, it said.

And the number of unemployed male youths was higher than that of female youths.

The youth unemployment rate is defined as the proportion of unemployed youth to the total number of people in the youth labour force, according to the survey.

Referring to the high unemployment rate among youths, Rushidan said, "We are unable to utilise fully the demographic dividend because of the huge number of unemployed youths."

The survey found that female participation in the labour force increased to 35.6 percent in June 2015 from 33.5 in December 2013.