Unemployment in Bangladesh, root cause of Uprising, persists, says Advisor Asif Mahmud

He says the state has been unable to take sufficient action due to “structural and capacity limitations”

Unemployment was at the core of the July Uprising that toppled the Awami League regime, but Bangladesh has not been able to deal with the problem, Youth Advisor Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain has said.

On Thursday, Asif, a former representative of the Anti-discrimination Student Movement, said though employment issues cannot be resolved overnight, not much progress has been made.

“Given that 63 percent of our population is under the age of 35, an unprecedented figure, very few countries face a similar demographic challenge.”

Speaking at a workshop in the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), he acknowledged that unemployment remains “Bangladesh’s biggest challenge”, yet admitted the state has been unable to take sufficient action due to structural and capacity limitations.

“We are perhaps not being able to work at the scale and volume that is necessary, due to limitations in capacity,” said Asif.

“Still, we are trying to work efficiently and are focusing on shaping our future responses accordingly.”

While managing ministerial responsibilities, Asif also identified himself as part of the youth cohort.

“I said 63 percent of our population is youth. If we fail to properly utilise this youth segment -- I am also one of them -- then we can't expect great outcomes.”

He added that current employment capacities are insufficient and urged greater support for young entrepreneurs.

“Given our real employment capacity, we must help our entrepreneurs far more than we currently do.”

Asif also stressed the need for stronger coordination across government departments and agencies to enable this support.