ZCZC
BSS-39
CPD-COVID-RECOVERY
Experts for medium-term strategy for inclusive recovery
DHAKA, May 5, 2021 (BSS) – Experts at a dialogue today observed that policy responses in view of the employment scenario and the labour market need to be designed considering immediate, short term and medium term ramifications of the pandemic.
They opined that the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts are still unfolding and there is a heightened need to monitor the impacts of attendant developments on the labour market scenario on a continuous basis.
To sustainably enhance decent job opportunities, the private sector will need to play a more decisive role, they mentioned.
For this to happen, they also observed that investment in infrastructure, strengthening of labour market institutions, emphasis on skill development and reforms in doing business will be called for to attract private investment from both domestic and foreign sources.
These observations emerged at the virtual dialogue on the “Income and Employment in COVID Times: How the People are Coping – Findings from a Household Survey”, which was organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and Oxfam in Bangladesh in association with Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh.
The dialogue was organised as part of the project titled ‘Enhancing the participation of community-based organisations (CBOs) and civil society organisations (CSOs) in democratic governance in Bangladesh’ which is being implemented by the CPD and the Oxfam in Bangladesh, with support from the European Union in Bangladesh.
The keynote presentation at the dialogue was made by Towfiqul Islam Khan, Senior Research Fellow, CPD.
Sharing the key findings from the study, Khan presented that about 62 percent lost their jobs at some point (mostly in April and May 2020 when the ‘general holiday or lockdown’ was in place) due to COVID-19.
He said about 86 percent of the individuals are not earning enough to meet their daily necessities and the average income of individuals eroded by about 12 percent.
He informed that the decline in income has pushed a significant number of people into lower-income groups – indicating a higher poverty incidence and at the same time income inequality increased.
The Guest of Honour at the dialogue, Tapan Chowdhury, Former Advisor to the Caretaker Government and Managing Director, Square Pharmaceutical, opined that the lower-income people were affected most due to the pandemic.
The workers were highly affected both in terms of working hours and jobs, particularly in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors, he added.
Dr Rizwanul Islam, Independent Economist and Former Special Advisor on Growth, Employment and Poverty Reduction, International Labour Organization (ILO), Geneva delivered the special comments at the session.
He commented that government should invest in labour-intensive rural road and infrastructure to stimulate the rural economy.
CPD’s Chairman, Professor Rehman Sobhan, also spoke at the event.
Professor Sobhan stated that effectively delivering government interventions, in cash or in-kind, needs to be developed in view of the impact on employment and income.
He emphasised the government to take the results of the research into cognisance for devising the policy interventions.
Among others, Rizwan Rahman, President, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) and Kamran T Rahman, President, Bangladesh Employers’ Federation (BEF), Ferdaus Ara Begum, Chief Executive Officer, Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD) and Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, Team Leader of the Project, Distinguished Fellow, CPD, spoke on the occasion.
Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Distinguished Fellow, CPD chaired the session.
Dr Fahmida Khatun, Executive Director, CPD, and Dr Dipankar Datta, Country Director, Oxfam in Bangladesh shared their views at the dialogue.
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