Formal job market shows signs of rebound after year-long slowdown
The surge is being driven primarily by FMCG and RMG sectors, but experts say it’s not enough yet
Highlights
- Job postings rose to 8,000 in July and may hit 9,000 in August, up from 4,000-5,000 earlier
- FMCG and RMG sectors drive the rebound, despite cuts in development jobs
- Experts warn the hiring surge may only cover last year's freeze
- Educated unemployment is rising, with over 900,000 tertiary graduates jobless in 2023
- Big corporations are displacing small businesses, shrinking long-term job opportunities
Bangladesh's formal job market is beginning to rebound after a year of stagnation, with a noticeable increase in job postings in July and August.
Experts, however, caution that this recovery may not be enough to meet the overwhelming demand for new jobs, and structural issues, such as the growing dominance of large corporations, continue to pose a threat to long-term employment growth.
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According to data from Bdjobs, the country's largest online job portal, around 8,000 vacancies were advertised in July, with the number expected to rise to 9,000 in August. This is a significant improvement from the 4,000-5,000 monthly average seen between August 2024 and June 2025.
"We have witnessed a surge in job postings in July-August this year despite a significant reduction in development-sector jobs caused by USAID fund cuts," said AKM Fahim Mashroor, CEO and co-founder of Bdjobs.com.
"Perhaps the new hiring we are seeing now is just filling that gap,": Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, president of the Bangladesh Employers' Federation (BEF) Formal job market shows signs of rebound after year-long slowdown
Bdjobs' Fahim Mashroor noted that this surge is being driven primarily by the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and readymade garments (RMG) sectors.
Currently, some 3,500 companies rely on Bdjobs to recruit professionals.
MA Jabbar, managing director of DBL Group, one of the top five garment exporters, confirmed the resilience of the apparel and textile industry.
"We are continuing to hire. In March this year, we acquired a garment factory and invested Tk425 crore. Another Tk200 crore will be spent on upgradation, which will create 3,000 new jobs," Jabbar told TBS.
Similarly, Unilever Bangladesh's Chairman Zaved Akhtar reported a return to "normative growth" after two years of contraction, though he noted the company had not hired new staff in recent months.
Despite these positive signs, industry leaders remain cautious.
Fazlee Shamim Ehsan, president of the Bangladesh Employers' Federation, suggested that the current wave of recruitment might just be filling a backlog from a year-long hiring freeze. "Perhaps the new hiring we are seeing now is just filling that gap," he observed.
This is a critical issue given that about 25 lakh people enter the domestic labour market each year. Of them, about 40% migrate abroad, mainly to Middle Eastern countries and Malaysia. The rest – some 15 lakh people – must find work at home.
Unskilled workers often manage to find jobs in factories, shops, restaurants, or as day labourers in the informal sector. But many educated youths remain unemployed for months, if not years.
A survey released Monday (25 August) by the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) underscores the problem:
- Informality dominates: Only one-fifth of the labour force has formal, salaried employment, with nearly 70% of workers in informal or unstructured jobs indicating weak industrial job creation capacity. Women, in particular, face a double disadvantage – low participation and higher underemployment.
- Educated unemployment rises: The number of unemployed tertiary graduates increased to over 900,000 in 2023, up from 799,000 the previous year. The unemployment rate among individuals with tertiary education also climbed to 13.11% from 12% over the same period.
The threat of corporate consolidation
According to Ehsan, the increasing dominance of big companies is a key barrier to new job creation.
He explained that when large factories expand, they absorb the output of several smaller ones, which are then forced to close.
While the large company grows, it does so by hiring fewer senior-level managers to oversee a much larger operation, ultimately displacing skilled professionals from the shuttered smaller businesses.
"When a factory expands by 30 new lines, it can absorb the output of six smaller factories, which eventually get shut down," Ehsan said. "In those six factories, there were six general managers, six production managers and six commercial managers. But in the expanded factory, only one general manager, one production manager and one commercial manager are recruited.
"This is not happening in the garment sector alone – it is the case across almost all industries," said the president of the Bangladesh Employers' Federation, which represents trade associations ranging from the BGMEA and the BKMEA to the MCCI, the DCCI, leather, tea and many others.
He cited the example of traditional small traders. "Once, thousands of people used to sell puffed rice, chanachur or rice in local markets. Now, these businesses have been taken over by large corporations, threatening the livelihoods of millions."
This trend is not limited to the garment sector. Dr Fahmida Khatun, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), pointed out that large corporations are expanding into various sectors, from textiles to traditional local markets, displacing small traders and threatening the livelihoods of millions.
She advised the government to consider policies that protect small businesses to ensure a healthier and more diverse job market.
"The government should seriously consider how to protect small businesses, as is done in many other countries," she told TBS.
