Stimulus packages wrap 8pc of jobs

Agaist the backdrop of a major jobs crisis in Bangladesh due to Covid-19, experts have claimed that the various stimulus packages offered by the government lack incentives for employers to sustain employment.The problem of rising joblessness mostly among youths in the age group of 18-28 years was raised at a webinar on 'Employment Implications of Stimulus Packages: Challenges for Recovery' organized by the Centre for policy Dialogue (CPD) in partnership with Oxfam and the Citizen's Platform for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in Dhaka on Thursday.

The size of the stimulus packages is much lower compared with that in most of the other countries in Asia and is also not adequate to meet the needs of people and economic sectors. The size of stimulus packages worth Tk 1,13,117 crore or 3.74 per cent of GDP is the 23th among 31 Asian countries, it said.

According to the CPD, if full implementation of the stimulus packages is possible, it would cover only 75.8 lakh or 12 per cent of the country's total employment. So far, it managed to reach 50.5 lakh or 8 per cent of the total employment of the country. CPD Distinguished Fellow Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya said that one-third of youths aged 18-28years have been rendered jobless in Bangladesh.

He claimed the stimulus packages are not enough considering the rising unemployment in the country. "There are allegations that many people did not derive any benefit from the stimulus packages offered by the government. So, the local government should be strengthened. The jobs issue should be given more emphasis in the Eighth Five-Year Plan too," Bhattacharya added.

KM Abdus Salam, Secretary of the Labour and Employment Ministry said despite several challenges amid the pandemic and floods in some parts of the country, the government took a number of initiatives to keep the wheels of the economy rolling and tackle the jobs problem. CPD distinguished fellow Mustafizur Rahman said that the allocation of stimulus packages was not disbursed to sectors as per necessity of direct employment generation.

CPD senior research fellow Towfiqul Islam Khan presented the findings of the assessment at the program where CPD executive director Fahmida Khatun, Bangladesh Employers' Federation president Kamran T Rahman, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies senior research fellow Nazneen Ahmed and Socialist Labour Front president Razequzzaman Ratan, among others, spoke.