They said due to the increased use of technology, it will lead to both job loss and new job creation.
“Less-educated women workers and workers in lower-wage occupations are more likely to be impacted...already 32 percent of rural households have internet access on their mobile phones,” said Atiya Rahman, Senior Research Associate at BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD).
She was speaking at the National Consultation: Reviewing and contextualizing the ILO Global Commission Report on the Future of Work’ arranged jointly by BIGD and International Labour Organization at a city hotel.
According to various sources, despite the steady growth of GDP, the benefit of the increase is going to the already wealthy population of the country while middle and lower-income families are struggling.
“Although there has been a rapid growth in the GDP rate, the income inequality among different classes has also widened. Data shows that the poorest 5 percent of society share less than 1 percent of the total income while the richest 5 percent share 28 percent. The poverty reduction rate has been slow in the latter part of the 2010s,” said Salma Begum, Associate Professor of Economics department in BRAC University.
Statistics gathered by BIGD shows that in recent years, 29.8 percent of young population (Aged 15-29) are ‘Not in Education, Employment or Training’ (NEET) meaning additional 2.7 million jobs still need to be addressed.
What is worse is that the data provided from the last Labour Force Survey 2016-17 show that 85 percent of the job-holding population is actually informally employed.
“They’re engaged in low wage and less productive jobs while 49.8 percent of the total employed population is forced to work for more than 48 hours a week,” Salma Begum said in her presentation.
BIGD and ILO put forward a set of recommendations to get over the shortcomings in the job market which includes improving the education policies to match the national and international job demand; implementing comprehensive labour market and employment policy; taking special measures to eliminate structural and cultural discrimination against women in the labour market; designing a comprehensive lifecycle-based social security system and developing climate change adaptation capacity of the country.
ILO Country Director Tuomo Poutiainen said a human-centred agenda needs to be implemented for the future of work and labour force in Bangladesh.
“It’ll strengthen the social contract by placing people and the work they do at the centre of economic and social policy and business practice,” he said.
BIGD Professional Fellow Sultan Hafeez said the government and other stakeholders need to step up for the betterment of the employment and labour situation in Bangladesh.
“With the various economic, technological, social and political changes happening globally and locally, it’s for all of us to play an active role in shaping what our future will be,” he said.
The discussion was followed by a workshop where academicians and young researchers jointly participated to identify Bangladesh priorities for the future of work.