Addressing Bangladesh’s Youth Unemployment through Skilled Migration
As we mark the one-year mark of the July Mass Uprising, a compelling demonstration of the desires and determinations of Bangladesh’s young generation, a principal concern that sparked this mobilization persists and necessitates prompt address: the problem of youth unemployment. It’s a disturbing fact that, right now, one out of every four young people in Bangladesh remains out of work, despite their intensive investment in obtaining an education. With scarce viable work prospects, a growing number of young individuals are resorting to hazardous, or even illicit, ways to remain afloat, thereby destabilizing societies and impairing communal harmony. To truly respect the essence of the uprising, it’s crucial that we move swiftly to forge new career paths for our youngest generations.
While meeting this challenge will require a comprehensive and multifaceted strategy, a considerably impactful and largely unexplored resolution is the promotion of international migration—particularly skilled migration to rapidly aging, affluent Asian nations. The pronounced labor shortfalls in graying countries such as Japan and South Korea have given rise to unequaled opportunities for skilled immigrants from Bangladesh. These nations are now actively seeking foreign labor to keep their economies afloat.
Japan, for instance, has rolled out the ‘Specified Skilled Worker’ visa program that permits immigrant laborers in 16 industries, encompassing fields like elderly care, hospitality, food services, the railway industry, construction, automobile transportation, and more. Japanese agents have begun searching for individuals to meet this labor absence. Increasingly, South Korea has tripled its quota for migrant laborers in 2024 itself.
According to predictions by the OECD, by 2040, South Korea will require more than eight times the number of foreign employees they have now. Correspondingly, JICA foresees a need for an additional 5 million immigrant workers in Japan to facilitate modest economic expansion by the predicted year. For nations like Bangladesh, these demographic transitions offer a golden opportunity to emerge as a crucial provider of skilled labor to these economies.
For many years, Bangladesh has relied heavily on overseas labor migration as a significant source of employment and remittance influxes. However, there’s a dire need for Bangladesh to ‘ascend the value ladder’ in this migration sector and make a transition towards skilled migration toward richer, employee-right respecting labor markets in countries like Japan and South Korea.
Despite this window of opportunity, the movement of skilled labor from Bangladesh to Japan and Korea remains minimal. The most significant impediment is language. Investing in learning Korean or Japanese languages holds a certain level of risk that isn’t associated when learning English. This situation has culminated in a classic market failure whereby our workers are understandably hesitant to pour resources into acquiring a skill that offers no certainty of return until they pass proficiency examinations.
Much of the advantages gained from developing these language skills will likely benefit future generations of workers from Bangladesh, not necessarily those who make the investment today. However, the act of studying Japanese today can establish migration networks that could mitigate risks for prospective generations. Consequently, establishing and underwriting such training is in our national interest.
An ingenious remedy to this market failure being successfully enacted, the ‘Straight Through’ model, thoughtfully selects trainees and provides complimentary language education, vocational instruction, job placement, and support upon arrival. The reimbursement cost is generous enough to run as a profitable business. Thousands of laborers from Southeast Asia have already been successfully integrated into Japan’s labor market through this initiative.
To fully exploit the distinct potential of skilled migration, Bangladesh will need to adopt numerous strategic initiatives. Firstly, the government should heavily invest in extending the availability of proficient trainers for both Japanese and Korean languages. Currently, we face a sharp shortage of high-quality language educators, and private sector efforts to bridge this gap have been futile.
A possible remedy could be to introduce scholarship and fellowship programs with the aim to allure experienced teachers from Japan and South Korea, in order to build our initial batch of instructors. Secondly, it’s essential to introduce public funding or innovate financial models to help young people invest in acquiring these specialized linguistic and vocational capabilities.
Thirdly, we must alleviate regulatory constraints. Fourthly, steps must be taken at the government level to prevent the rampant malpractice rampant among deceitful immigration intermediaries. In facing this issue, the government could contemplate implementing a robust quality rating system for intermediaries. This mechanism could assess service providers based on crucial parameters like legal compliance, quality of instruction, transparency in costing, placement results, and migrant satisfaction.
Lastly, it’s paramount that a countrywide awareness program is initiated to challenge deep-rooted stigmas surrounding occupations in sectors like caregiving, food service, and hospitality—industries that are deemed dignified, well-regulated, and revered in countries such as Japan. It is crucial to re-brand such employment opportunities as a meaningful vocational path for educated young individuals.
These decisive actions will empower Bangladesh to heighten skilled migration, amplifying opportunities, reinstating dignity to our young demographic and meeting the demands emanating from the July Uprising. Through these steps, we can explore avenues to responsibly address the grievances of our unemployed youth, while simultaneously strengthening our economic position on the global stage.