Originally posted in The Financial Express on 4 January 2023
Curtain falls on ESC Dialogue Episode 8
The Covid-19 pandemic has had significant long term effects on the economic development. In light of the ongoing global recession and rising unemployment, there is a pressing need for discussion on the labour market. In response to this need, the Economics Study Center, University of Dhaka arranged its 8th dialogue session on ‘Labour Market Recovery in Bangladesh: Prospects amid the Global Recession’ recently.
The session was moderated by Dr Selim Raihan, professor, Department of Economics, University of Dhaka, and executive director, SANEM. The panellists were Dr Fahmida Khatun, executive director of the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Dr Sayema Haque Bidisha, professor, Department of Economics, University of Dhaka, and research director, SANEM, Bijon Islam, co-founder, and CEO, LightCastle Partners, and Mohammad Nazmul Avi Hossain, programme officer, ILO.
Dr Selim Raihan opened the session and he then handed over the floor to Nazmul Avi Hossain to highlight the key areas. He primarily mentioned the Covid-19 pandemic as one of the major shocks to the labour market. The Ukraine-Russia war was also highlighted as another key issue. On top of these, he discussed that our LDC graduation will surely have some impact on the labour market. He tried to shed light on the German reporting system on human rights that ensures the factory’s labour rights condition and how it has been helpful for their labour market.
Moreover, he mentioned important aspects like workers who are in vulnerable positions, increasing youth participation, and creating more job opportunities that need holistic support from academia and government.
Bijon Islam discussed the various sectors of the economy that employ a large number of people and the impact of the ongoing global tension and the Covid-19 pandemic on countries’ concern for protecting their economies. He mentioned that technical advancements have a great role to play in the labour market as well. Furthermore, he also mentioned the challenges of the 4th Industrial Revolution and how we should get prepared to face them.
The next speaker Dr Sayema Haque Bidisha mentioned that the new macro and micro economic challenges are making the current labour market scenario more complicated. She also stressed the issue of decent working opportunities and conditions and why it needs our attention. From minimum wage to basic labour rights– it is important to advocate for them. The skill gap in the labour market is another acute challenge, Dr Bidisha opined. Most importantly, she mentioned that we need to make futuristic policies and ensure that inflation will be under control as this challenge creates problems in all aspects of the economy. Besides, she hopes that we will eventually come up with policies that solve the structural issues of our local labour market.
Dr Fahmida Khatun was the last discussant of this dialogue. Like all the other panellists she also tried to sum up the current global scenario that is affected by both pandemic and ongoing war. During her discussion, she said, “During the Covid-19 pandemic, the commerce sector flourished and it created a good number of jobs as well. There’s always a silver lining and we should see every challenge as an opportunity.” Moreover, taking measures to combat sudden supply-side disruption can be really helpful. At the same time, establishing a skilled and properly trained labour force will help us to secure more jobs abroad. Lastly, she mentioned caregiving in the healthcare sector as one of the budding industries where we can focus on. And she hoped that the government will provide the necessary measures and incentives to motivate people into unconventional working sectors.
Later, Dr Raihan pinpointed the significant points that had been discussed throughout the session and gave an overall summary. To answer the question about the skill gap, Dr Fahmida Khatun said that to make a skilled labour force we need to make the curriculum more relevant and more socially applicable, because employers like to hire people with more real-life knowledge and expertise. Dr Bidisha also mentioned that focusing on soft skills and interpersonal skills will help Bangladesh to decrease the number of educated unemployed. She also mentioned that polytechnical education can also be another good opportunity that we are yet to explore.
The session ended with the hope that Bangladesh will be able to successfully combat this current situation and make commendable progress in the post-pandemic era.