World Bank: Bangladesh needs to create 21 million jobs in next 10 years

December 14, 2015 OPINION/NEWS

By

Sheuli Akter

World Bank Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Kaushik Basu said creating more higher-skilled jobs was a top priority for Bangladesh and commended the country’s remarkable development progress while earlier meeting the Prime Minister.

Basu praised Bangladesh’s efforts to create more and better jobs, a prerequisite for reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity.

Since 2003, the country was able to create 14 million higher-value jobs and bring more women into the workforce, which lifted millions of people out of poverty. 75% of the new jobs created were in the manufacturing and service sector.

Basu also added: “But, there is no time for complacency. Bangladesh needs to create 21 million jobs in the next 10 years for the new entrants in the job marketThe country needs to address infrastructure bottlenecks, improve business and investment climate and enhance the quality of education and vocational training to create adequate jobs for its youths.

Basu will meet with senior government officials, including the Finance Minister and the Governor of Bangladesh Bank, among others. He also met with the private sector leaders and development partners.

“I am happy to be back in Bangladesh. The resilience of its people, the innovation and progress in this country has been impressive,” said Basu. “Bangladesh has made great strides in promoting financial inclusion, and raising agricultural productivity. Indeed, other countries can learn from Bangladesh’s rich experience of reducing poverty and advancing the development agenda. With the right policies and a few timely actions, it is possible for Bangladesh to emerge as the next Asian Tiger. That today we can think along these terms is testimony to how far Bangladesh has come.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sheuli Akter

Sheuli Akter, from Bangladesh, is a Special Correspondent and Editor of NsNewsWire, (Bangladesh’s First Press Newswire).  Previously she had worked for Bangladesh’ top news agency, United News of Bangladesh (UNB) and top newspaper (now defunct) The Bangladesh Observer. She also gained an honourable mention in the first ever World Media Summit WMS Awards for ‘Exemplary News Professionals in Developing Countries’, receiving the award in Beijing in January 2015.

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