Even with high economic growth, Bangladesh has failed to create substantial employment, resulting in worrying unemployment rates, experts said.
They suggested ensuring employment-oriented growth to achieve the desired sustainable economic development.
"The country has been on the path of high growth, but, unfortunately, this growth has not been accompanied by job creation and employment generation," Fahmida Khatun, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said during panel discussion at a meet organized by the German Embassy in Dhaka on Sunday.
She mentioned that despite the high growth, the youth-unemployment rate is 10.6%, which was alarming.
"One factor we have to remember is that everyone will not be able to get a job in the office. So, maybe, they have to create their own jobs, meaning that they have to be self- employed," Khatun also said.
She pointed out that the unemployed need to be entrepreneurs to be self-employed, and to start their own business they need access to finance, which is a difficult task in the prevailing situation.
She urged the policymakers to ensure that such difficulties can be resolved.
Even those who are already in business, micro-and small businesses face challenges in having to access finance, she noted.
She also urged ensuring jobs for those who face termination in the wake of automation.
A large section of women in the country lost jobs for failing to adapt to technology as these women were not given the opportunity for education, she added.
Prof MA Razzaque of the Policy Research Institute (PRI) said in the country's drive to achieve middle-income status the European Union can play a crucial role by extending the GSP-plus facilities to Bangladesh, and in this regard Germany may play a vital role.
He reminded of the preconditions tagged with the GSP Plus facilities to be offered by the EU in the post-graduation era and said Germany and other EU countries can help Bangladesh fulfill these conditions such as increasing dependence on green energy.
Addressing the discussion, ILO Country Director Tuomo Poutiainen said investing in gender is crucial to achieving sustainable growth.
He said the job flow needs to come from a more balanced approach and for this the country needs to look at the more traditional areas such as agriculture, construction, retail, wholesale.
"Because, the growth has to be coming from many sources, it cannot just come from factories or manufacturing. And that requires investment," he added.
But also it requires attention in relation to SMEs and the formalization of industries and helping them, SMEs in particular, to create more quality jobs, the ILO country chief suggests.
