PaperInk: Write your thoughts
Submission no: 08
Topic: Employment after the global recession: A perspective to a better economy
Name: Md.Zayed Hassan Sagor
Institution: Islamic University of Technology(IUT)
COVID-19 is hindering almost everyone’s social, economical lifestyle. Though everyone is not getting affected by the virus, almost everyone is meeting financial issues. Many companies are shutting their business, and others are giving cutoff to their workers. Even when the pandemic’s situation will abate, it will be a huge challenge to restore the economy. But some pre-measure steps can help us to prepare for that time.
Though our economy is agriculture-based in recent decades, RMG (Ready Made Garment) has taken over the export business. This sector has achieved; tremendous growth. Nowadays, millions of people have been engaged in this sector. But due to COVID-19, orders had been in a hold or got canceled. Factories have to discharge workers forcibly due to reducing loss.
Consequently, thousands of people have gone under the poverty line. So, after the pandemic, the consumers may prioritize quantity over quality, which means they may require a different product type. It’s also unexpected that COVID-19 will vanish overnight, but hopefully, we will witness a drop in affected cases in some countries and probably start their business. So, the government with the central bank has to provide easy loans to the companies. They may also reduce tax or put some money into the market. Moreover, RMG related factories shall seek opportunities in different regions, most likely where pandemic predicaments have been reduced, like in New Zealand, Australia, China, etc.
Covid-19 ravaged economy has put further pressure on the labor market in Bangladesh. Due to shut down or slowdown of economic activities, many have lost their jobs. Many have shifted to inferior positions. We see that the significant hit on employment is in the urban area. A survey shows that 11 percent of the people have left Dhaka after the pandemic started in Bangladesh because of lack of money. People are sacrificing their basic needs. So, just by giving loans, their problems cannot be resolved. These people can be provided with training for non-
skilled jobs like poultry farming, home crafts, etc. All financial services institutions (banking and capital markets, insurance and asset management) should monitor the effective distribution of profits or losses by combining existing price setting with outcome testing approaches to monitor the effective distribution of profits/losses across the group’s different entities/branches and jurisdictions.
Tourism-related businesses will even have to wait a long time even after the recession as people may try to cut down money from luxury. So, they can give a special offer to attract tourists. Transport, accommodation, hotels all are somehow connected with the Tourism business. They need to be also supported by authority.
Some pre-measure steps like this can be taken:
(1) The government should form Employment Committee to assess the current situation so that they can for new policies that will keep our youth engaged.
(2) The government should ensure job security for the labor market for a short time, like six months, to save the economy from falling down.
(3) The revival of economic activities is a must, closely linked to managing the on going health and financial crisis. The authority should pay attention so that the problem arises in the health sector can be solved.
The rural economy had been organized until recently, the standard of living in the rural areas improved, road communications, including internal roads and other indicators, also improved dramatically. But due to this pandemic, this sector has also been badly affected. Only crop-based farming has been stable, but other businesses are floating. The authority has to provide loans in (2-5) interest rate afterward, the COVID -19 to save the farmers because they are the backbone of our country.
Almost all business sectors have incurred losses; some have lost their customers; some of them have witnessed stocks’ downfall in the stock market. But only some industry has shown growth & gains profit is mainly e-commerce & IT-related business. So, now they are increasing a strong customer base, which will
eventually proliferate during the pandemic as people are getting more used to online buying or selling. It’s also expected consumers will still prefer e-commerce even after the epidemic. So, companies that are entirely based on brick and mortar should expand their business online because people are adapting to new things very soon in this pandemic. We may witness the vegetable market, general store, supermarket running their business online. The government can play a significant role in bringing this change. They can promote or build this type of platform, which will allow a local business person to sell their goods online.
The business sector will witness revolutionary changes after this recession. There will be fewer opportunities for job seekers. So, the job market will be more competitive than at any time before. So, Job seekers should sharpen their skills in the meantime. A recent survey shows around 13% of those employed before Covid-19 lost their jobs(source: Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS)). So, job seekers should also focus on being self-employed. It will benefit themselves even after the recession, even when they continue seeking jobs by fulfilling financial needs.
During this pandemic, the situation is changing every day. As long as the epidemic will stay, the more challenging it will be to recover our economy. But taking proper preparation and policies, we can combat our falling economy and dream of a developed country named Bangladesh.
