Globally,
since March 2020 the economic activity has been halted due to the Covid-19 Pandemic
putting the entire world under great uncertainty. This pandemic could be seen
as one of the biggest destroyers of jobs throughout this century.
The global economy could suffer losses between $5.8 trillion to $8.8 trillion that would be equivalent to 6.4% to 9.7% of global GDP, as reported by ADB. The outbreak-affected economy will witness a decline in global employment between 158 million to 242 million jobs in number where 70% of total employment losses will be in Asia and Pacific.
In Bangladesh, the Government feels the constant pressure to create millions of new jobs to reduce the current unemployment rate of appx. 4.29%. For us, job creation is really a fundamental factor to reduce poverty, improve the standard of living, mobilize economic safety, increase the government’s income and finally to reach Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
Due to the loss of jobs and loss in
income, the people who live from hand to mouth will face a drastic consequence
of a fall in purchasing power. Due to a decrease in disposable income, people will tend to keep fewer savings and will
have a tendency to invest less. A decrease in individual savings will lead to a lowering
of collective investment that may create a great economic shock in the near
tomorrow.
One of the
fundamental sources of revenue generation in Bangladesh comes from RMG sector
that employs around 4.4 million people, most of them are youths. Then comes the service sector like the tourism industry, consulting agency, aircraft industry,
private manufacturing organizations where numerous young minds work. Due to
COVID-19 pandemic, the young people are likely to lose their jobs and for this
sudden unemployment, a mental shock has put in the minds of those people who are
the ultimate power of Bangladesh’s future days. Unexpected
unemployment not only puts impact on income, savings, and spending but on
social status, dignity, and family relationship.
Recruitment process in this pandemic
My
viewpoint suggests that the post-pandemic recruitment process of organizations
will be too competitive, although, needless to say, getting the desired job
requires patience and not in a very easy way but because of financial adversity that company will be facing after this global exigence, there lies a high possibility
that organizations will modify current recruitment system. There will be a place
for only those candidates who can able to show their dexterity. They will get a competitive edge than others who can’t prove their excellence to management. A
million people are in a state of losing jobs, they certainly become much
desperate to find new jobs to maintain their living standards. So there will
happen an invisible but fierce competition between experienced dismissed
candidates and fresh graduates who are in search of a new job to start a career.
In this situation, there remains no alternative but to enhance industry-related
knowledge, technical knowledge, to develop interpersonal skills with effective
time management and most importantly, to have a sound understanding of
subjective knowledge required more.
Promote employment opportunity of youths of Bangladesh
To promote the employment opportunity
of youths in the post-pandemic Bangladesh, the Government should accelerate the
technical education system. The post-COVID-19 world will depend mostly
on tech-management where Fintech, Digital Learning, Blockchain learning,
Artificial Intelligence UX Design, Scientific Computing, software development
knowledge and these type of tech-oriented knowledge will rule in the job
market. To create jobs, the Government should focus on these areas to make our
young generation knowledgeable in an extensive way.
When our young stars can make
themselves efficient in every skill that global marketplace searches,
automatically foreign investors will invest in our manpower. We will get to
earn more foreign currency by creating many jobs in foreign countries by
exporting our skilled young force.
A major shift is likely to visible in the global economic arena. For this, companies will
have to modify their corporate policies, operational structures, financial and
business strategies, supply chain management systems and in a whole their
entire decision-making mechanisms with a view to coping up with the
post-pandemic business world. Here comes the necessity of being adaptable with
a positive outlook towards changing the environment. The young people should have
appropriate knowledge about change management. The employee, accomplishing
assigned tasks with a high rate of efficiency, can aid the decision making and
policy formulation area of an organization more quickly and thus can survive in
the post-pandemic competitive marketplace where important decisions will need
to be taken very productively within the spur of the moments.
In the case of
migrant workers, as they are also in a state of losing their jobs, The government should utilize its money for making migrant workers more skilled
through providing them vocational training so that they can get a higher
competitive stance than workers of other labor-intensive countries after the great impact of Novel Coronavirus.
Basically,
all concerned are emphasizing more on increasing funding in the health sector
as Covid-19 is the most serious health crisis the world has ever experienced in
a century. But, apart from the intent of increasing and strengthening health
spending, protection scheme in income and livelihood is also inevitable for
tackling prolonged economic recovery, especially in Bangladesh.
What the Government can do
Last but not the least, our Government should take a diplomatic stance in front of international organizations to protect the subsistence of momentous wheels of our economy, our young generation. Only a planned initiative from Government that can include education, vocational training to enlighten our young generation can create a million jobs through our country and also around the world. The day will never be so far to see, only a good stimuli package is needed from the government side.