Demand-driven training for jobseekers stressed

Highlights:

• 20.4m workers lost jobs from 11 high impact sectors
• 5 emerging sectors to create 0.78m jobs in 2020 and 3.1m in 2021
• Creation of new jobs in line with the amount already lost unlikely
• 8 job skills emphasised for employment, growth in industries

The jobseekers should develop required skills and be provided with demand-driven training in order to enable them to get expected jobs during the post-pandemic period.

Besides, the national textbook curricula should be rearranged according to the industry demand for that purpose.

Speakers on Monday put forward this opinion in a virtual webinar titled "Post Covid-19: Jobs and Skills in Bangladesh".

The EMK Center in the capital organised the event in partnership with the government's a2i (Access to Information), University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh and The Business Standard as part of a month-long "Youth Employability Campaign".

The webinar discussed the a2i's contemporary research styled "Post Covid Jobs and Skills in Bangladesh".

The research team members talked over the research findings, placed their opinions and answered different questions raised by the moderator and the audience.

Asif Uddin Ahmed, acting director of the EMK Center, said, "We recently completed a research with the government's a2i where we have identified 11 high impact sectors where jobs have been lost as well as five emerging sectors where new jobs are being created amid Covid-19.

"The five emerging sectors are pharmaceuticals, ICT and e-commerce, healthcare services, agro-food, and creative media."

Across these five sectors, projects the study, 0.78 million jobs will be created in 2020 and additional 3.1 million jobs in 2021.

"But mostly, the country does not have an academic curriculum made in line with the demand of the industry," said Asif.

The study reckons that over 20.4 million workers are currently unemployed across 11 high impact sectors in Bangladesh.

"However, many are getting back their jobs, especially in the transport sector," said Asif.

The study further forecasts that additional 5.5 million workers will lose their jobs by the end of this year while over 2.53 million more will meet the same fate in 2021.

Asad-Uz-Zaman, head of future of work lab at the a2i, said new jobs will not be created in the next one year in proportion to the amount of jobs already lost during the pandemic. A large number of jobseekers will shift to entrepreneurship in the coming days.

"So, we will have to arrange demand-driven training for jobseekers and focus on creating entrepreneurs through investment," he added.

Zubayer Zakir Khan, an adjunct faculty at the Independent University, Bangladesh, highlighted the top eight job skills that will be required for employment and growth in industries during the post-Covid period.

The skills include adaptability and flexibility, tech-savviness, creativity and innovation, critical thinking, digital and coding skills, leadership, emotional intelligence, commitment to lifetime learning.

"The jobseekers should develop new skills to prepare themselves for the upcoming job market," he said.

The programme was moderated by Mohammad Nazmul Avi Hossain, a researcher at the European Center for Advanced Research in Economics and Statistics.