THE Daily Star of october 13, 2004 ran a story under the headline: "Youth lost to joblessness." it highlighted the main findings of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) in Bangladesh, 19992000, which was till then the latest published (published in August 2002) LFS of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

one of the important findings of the LFS, 1999-2000, was the prevalence of high rate of joblessness among the educated youths. The results were more or less the same in other previous surveys of labour force as well as in the subsequent LFS of 2002-2003 (published in December 2004). Providing employment opportunities to the vast pool of unemployed and under-employed people as well for the large number of new entrants to the labour market continues to be a major socioeconomic challenge facing the government.

Unemployment refers to involuntary idleness due to lack of work. Unemployed refers to persons belonging to the labour force, seeking but not doing any work during a specified period. Underemployment is the condition whereby a person's employment is considered inadequate in terms of time worked, income earned, productivity or use of his/her skills and the person is looking for additional work in conformity with his/her education or skill to augment income.

The latest survey on labour force in Bangladesh, that is, the LFS 2002-03 of the BBS, estimated the total population of the country at 133.4 million. out of the above estimated population, 80.8 million or 60. 6 percent were in the labour force (15 years and above but excluding the disabled and retired persons, income recipients, full time housewives, students, etc). The LFS of 2002-03 considered the population in the age group of 1014 as child population and as such excluded them from the working age population i.e. labour force. The earlier surveys covered the population of the age group 10-14 as labour force.

According to the LFS of 19992000, against the estimated population of 127. 5 million, 74. 5 million were in the working age i.e. labour force. it showed that the rates of unemployment among the economically active youths aged 15-29

years with education level as follows:

Those with no schooling stood at 13.1 percent (male 11.3 percent, female 16.0 percent), Class 1-5 stood at 22.9 percent (male 22.8, female 23.2), Class 6-8 stood at 14.9 percent (male 14.2, female 16.0), Class 9-10 stood at 17. 5 percent (male 19.1, female 14. 9), SSC/HSC and equivalent, 23. 5 percent (male 23.2, female 23. 9), and Degree and above 8.1 percent (male 9.4, female 6.0).

The LFS of 2002-2003 revealed that the rates of unemployment among the economically active

The Asian Development Bank publication entitled "Key indicators of Developing Asian and Pacific Countries-2002" also shows that in between 1995 and 2000, Bangladesh experienced labour force growth exceeding 3 percent per annum. The LFS of 2002-03 shows that the annual growth rate of labour force between 19992000 and 2002-03 stood at 4. 4 percent. The male growth rate stood at 3. 8 percent compared to female growth rate of 6. 5 percent. This is the situation against the population growth rate of about 2 percent annually for the same

Expenditure Survey (HiES)-2000 of the BBS shows 25.07 percent of population in the range 15-29 years. it further shows 14.0 percent of population aged 10-14 years. This group has meanwhile entered the labour force in the range of 1529 years.

Third, imposing frequent restrictions on appointment to public offices on the grounds of constituting committees to recommend "rightsizing the government" as well as for austerity measures in the last two decades or so have adversely affected timely employment of educated youths.

youths aged 15-29 years as follows:

Those with no schooling stood at 26.4 percent (male 25.8, female 28.0), those with Class 1-5 education level stood at 13.6 percent (male 13.2, female 14.6), Class 6-8 stood at 11.6 percent (male 12.2, female 9. 9), Class 9-10 stood at 14.0 percent (male 15. 3, female 10. 6), SSC/HSC and equivalent stood at 20. 9 percent (male 20.7, female 21.4), and Degree and above stood at 12.8 percent (male 12.1, female 14.8).

it appears that the above two surveys have recorded higher rates of unemployment among the educated youths aged 15-29 years. The rate of unemployment is the highest among the educated youths with education level SSC/ HSC and equivalent.

Now the question arises as to why there are higher rates of unemployment among the educated youths aged 15-29 years.

First, the annual growth rate of labour force has been higher than the annual rate of population growth. According to the LFS of 1999-2000, the annual growth rate of labour force between 1995-96 and 1999-2000 stood at 3.2 percent. The male growth rate stood at 1.2 percent compared to female growth of 14.4 percent. The urban and rural growth rate of labour force for the same period stood at 2.7 percent and 3.4 percent respectively.

period.

Second, entry of a large number of new entrants to the labour market has been a continuous process. Bangladesh: A National Strategy for Economic Growth, Poverty Reduction and Social Development (2004) of Economic Relations Division, Ministry of Finance says that during the 1990s, the labour force in the country expanded with around one million people entering the labour force annually.

Household income &

Fourth, one Bangla daily (The Daily ittefaq, october 24) has carried a front-page report which shows that while the contribution of service sector to the economy is on the increase, the contribution of manufacturing sector to the economy is on the decline.

During the last financial year, the contribution of service sector to the GDP increased by 45 percent. But the growth in the manufacturing sector decreased by 33 percent. Service sector provides less employment opportunities com-

pared to manufacturing sector. As a result of declining trend in the growth of manufacturing sector, employment opportunities are deceasing.

Fifth, closing of a number of public sector labour intensive mills and factories in the last fifteen years or so have reduced employment opportunities, in particular for the educated youths.

Sixth, easy access to credit with low interest rates from banks and financial institutions acts as an incentive for the educated youths for generating self-employment opportunities. But the situation is different in the country. Here the hurdles for access to credit and exorbitant interest rates discourage the educated youths to go for self-employment activities.

Last but not least, our youths with education level Class 9-10 and SSC/HSC generally lack skill and expertise required by employers abroad, particularly employers in the Middle Eastern countries. The youths with education level SSC/ HSC have the highest rate of unemployment.

Higher rate of joblessness among the educated youths of the country has been fuelling their frustration. Many observers believe that there is some association between the economic condition of a person and the probability that he will become a criminal. This is equally true in the case of unemployed educated youths. A jobless educated youth, particularly a male one, gets little respect in his family or in the society. This forces him to resort to activities which are criminal in nature. These activities may take the following forms:

l He may join a group of hijackers or tender snatchers.

l He may be employed for trafficking dangerous drugs.

l He may be a muscleman of a corrupt politician.

l He may be a militant.

l He may join any other anti-social activities.

To conclude, a higher rate of unemployment among the educated youths is not only a wastage of economically active population, but also leads to many social evils. The need for reducing the existing higher rate of unemployment among the educated youths can hardly be over-emphasised. The earlier it can be done, the better it will be for the society.

M. Abdul Latif Mondal is a former Secretary to the Government.