The youth unemployment rate currently stands at 10.6 per cent in Bangladesh, which is more than twice the overall national unemployment rate of 4.2 per cent, according to an ILO report.
Youth unemployment increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. ILO is supporting the government of Bangladesh in boosting employment for young people through skills training and industrial apprenticeships, as well as promoting entrepreneurship and skilled labour migration.
''Skilled youth is the key to Bangladesh's future", says Director for ILO Country Office for Bangladesh, Tuomo Poutiainen, ''and ILO is proud to partner with the Government of Bangladesh to build young people's skills and employability''
Recovery in youth employment is still lagging, according to a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO), which confirms that Covid-19 has taken its toll on young people.
The pandemic has exacerbated numerous labour market challenges facing those aged between 15 and 24, who have experienced a much higher percentage loss in employment than adults since early 2020.
The ILO launched the report styled 'Global Employment Trends for Youth 2022: Investing in transforming futures for young people' on Thursday ahead of International Youth Day today (Friday).
The total global number of unemployed youths is estimated to reach 73 million in 2022, a slight improvement from 2021 (75 million) but still six million above the pre-pandemic level of 2019, it says.
The share of youth not in employment, education or training (NEET) in 2020-the latest year for which a global estimate is available-rose to 23.3 per cent, an increase of 1.5 percentage points from the previous year and a level not seen in at least 15 years.
This group of young people is at particular risk of seeing their labour market opportunities and outcomes deteriorate also over the longer-term as "scarring" effects take hold.
Young women are worse off than young men, exhibiting a much lower employment-to-population ratio (EPR).
In 2022, an estimated 27.4 per cent of young women globally are projected to be in employment, compared to 40.3 per cent of young men.
This means that young men are almost 1.5 times more likely than young women to be employed.
The gender gap, which has shown a little sign of closing over the past two decades, is largest in lower-middle-income countries, at 17.3 percentage points, and smallest in high-income countries, at 2.3 points.
The recovery in youth unemployment is projected to diverge between low- and middle-income countries on the one hand and high-income countries on the other.
High-income countries are the only ones expected to achieve youth unemployment rates close to those of 2019 by the end of 2022, says the report.
In the other country income groups, the rates are projected to remain more than 1.0 percentage point above their pre-crisis values, it adds.
In Europe and Central Asia (ECA), the unemployment rate of young people is projected to be 1.5 percentage points higher than the global average in 2022, which is 16.4 per cent versus 14.9 per cent respectively.
There has been substantial progress in reducing youth unemployment for both women and men, but the actual and potential shocks of the war in Ukraine are highly likely to affect the results.
The youth unemployment rate in the Asia-Pacific region is projected to reach 14.9 per cent in 2022, the same as the global average, although there are important divergences between sub-regions and countries.
Young women and men are well placed to benefit from the expansion of green and blue (ocean resources and their sustainable use) economies.
According to the report, an additional 8.4-million jobs for young people could be created by 2030 through the implementation of green and blue policy measures.
Achieving universal broadband coverage by 2030 can lead to a net rise in 24-million new jobs globally, with young people taking 6.4 million, it estimates.
Investments in care sectors would create 17.9 million more jobs for young people by 2030-in care sectors (14.4 million) and in other sectors (3.4 million).
Undertaking the green, digital and care measures together as part of a big investment push may raise global GDP by 4.2 per cent and create an additional 139-million jobs for workers of all ages worldwide.
Of them, according to the report, 32-million jobs are likely to be accounted by young people.
munni_fe@yahoo.com