IMF Report
36 percent of educated youth in Bangladesh are unemployed
Graphics: Agamir Somoy
As many as 36 percent of educated young people in Bangladesh are unemployed. In other words, 36 out of every 100 educated young people have no job. This information has emerged in a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The report was published in the September issue of the IMF’s Finance & Development magazine.
The IMF says youth unemployment is high across Asia, with the highest rates recorded among those with higher levels of education.
According to the IMF report, AI can boost growth and productivity, but if the adoption of AI outpaces the development of skills, the technology could put further pressure on young workers in the labor market.
The report also presents unemployment rates among educated young people in countries including India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines, in addition to Bangladesh.
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics’ (BBS) 2024 Labour Force Survey, there are 2.624 million unemployed people in the country. Of them, 2.032 million are young people aged between 15 and 29. Nearly 29 percent of these unemployed people are highly educated or hold bachelor’s degrees.
BBS data show that more than 17 percent of highly educated young jobseekers, or those holding bachelor’s degrees, remain unemployed for more than two years. More than 15 percent of highly educated young people remain unemployed for one to two years. This means that one in every three highly educated young people remains unemployed for more than a year.
According to the IMF report, 43 percent of educated young people in Sri Lanka are unemployed, while the figure is more than 40 percent in India. In Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, the unemployment rate among educated young people is also above 20 percent.
The IMF says highly educated young people are struggling to find jobs that match their qualifications. As the use of AI expands in Southeast Asian labor markets, there are concerns that job opportunities for highly skilled workers could decline in the coming years.
The IMF says the problem is not limited to the number of unemployed people. Even when jobs are available, there is a persistent mismatch between the skills required and those possessed by graduates. Today, AI models can perform many complex tasks for free. As a result, organizations are reducing their need for many entry-level technical positions.
