Govt creating list of citizens unemployed by coronavirus shutdown

The government is making a list of people left jobless due to the shutdown designed to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Shahidul Islambdnews24.com
Published : 13 April 2020, 08:28 PM
Updated : 13 April 2020, 08:28 PM

“An estimate of how many people have become unemployed due to the nationwide shutdown can be given in two or three days,” KM Ali Azam, the secretary to the Ministry of Labour and Employment, said on Monday referring to a draft list in the works.

“We are making this list based on information from our sources. We will gather information from different ministries as well.” he added.

Although this extended period of nationwide shutdown in public activities, including the halt on all sorts of transport service, began on Mar 26, the educational institutions have suspended academic activities since Mar 17.

While the majority of people left out of work in this lockdown are daily wage labourers, many private organisations, too, have cut down on staffing because of the crisis.

“The list will include unemployed people from both the formal and informal sectors,” Ali Azam told bdnews24.com. “The longer this situation will continue, the bigger the number of jobless people will get.”

According to government figures, a total of around 650 million people were engaged in work; 100 million of them in formal sector and the rest in informal.

Ali Azad said the list would be finalised a few days later as the situation is changing rapidly.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has given instructions on what needs to be done about the formal sector employees, but the government is still thinking about the jobs in the informal sector, State Minister for Labour Monnujan Sufian said.

Hasina announced Tk 50 billion funds for the farmers so that they can continue production despite the economic impacts of the pandemic.

To help industries cope up with the outbreak’s effects, the government also announced a Tk 720 billion bailout package.