Job creation has slowed down especially in RMG sector due to weaker export growth

News & Analysis

Job creation has slowed down especially in RMG sector due to weaker export growth

Md. Arifur Rahman Siddique, Staff Correspondent, BTT

Bangladesh economic growth remains resilient in spite of volatile export growth and shrinking remittances, according to a new World Bank Report “The Bangladesh Development Update”, which is revealed on September 27 at the World Bank Bangladesh office in the capital.

The World Bank Report said, the rate of job creation has slowed down day by day due to the weaker economic growth, infrastructure gap, predominance of informality in labor markets and slow structural reforms.

Figure1: World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh Qimiao Fan and Zahid Hussain, Lead Economist at the World Bank's Dhaka office, during the briefing.

According to the global lender, between 2003 and 2016 an average of 1.15 million net jobs were created in Bangladesh each year.Between 2003 and 2010, total employment grew by 3.1% per year before falling back to 1.8% between 2011 and 2016, impacting women and youths in particular.

The World Bank suggested Bangladesh focuses on micro-financial stability, structural reforms, urban planning and technological advances especially in SMEs, in order to create more jobs, better jobs and inclusive jobs and boost its growth potential.

Figure 2: Showing the key focus areas by World Bank to create more jobs.

Zahid Hussain, the lead economist at the World Bank’s Dhaka office said, “We have witnessed strong GDP growth but it is not reflected in the job market. The largest job provider in the private sector in readymade garments factories have seen a fall in job creation. Even the participation of women has declined.”

He also said in the last few years Bangladesh witnessed over 6% GDP growth rate driven by industry and services, and despite a decrease in productivity in the agriculture sector.

Figure 3: Contribution of Production Sector (%).

According to this report, GDP growth is projected to be robust and above many developing countries in East and South Asia in FY 2018. Growth is expected at 6.4% in FY 18, driven by industry and service. Export growth likely to pick up modestly with the expected recovery in global trade. Remittance may turn around and private investments may pick up.

Figure 4: Country wise growth expected in FY18 ( Source: World Bank )

“The Bangladesh economy is moving forward at a strong pace despite internal and external headwinds,” said Qimiao Fan, World Bank Country Director, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. Bangladesh needs to be more investment for increasing GDP to creation better jobs, he added.

The World Bank also stressed the importance of private and public investment for increasing productivity and employment.