Furthermore, the country is passing through a phase when the share of the working-age population is greater than that of the working-age population (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics [BBS], 2018). A large element of this advantage in the working-age population is the current "youth bulge": more than a third of the population is aged 15-35. Productivity in the RMG sector should be greatly increased for the sustainability and growth of the sector as well as the welfare of the workers.
Another lifeline of Bangladesh's economy, especially for the young workforce, is migration. At the other end of the spectrum, information and communication technology (ICT) is creating enormous developments. Collectively, these figures show that the majority of working people in the country are in vulnerable employment.
Only 15% of the workforce in RMG is skilled, the rest is semi-skilled and unskilled (Patwary, 2017). Despite a significant decline, more than a third of children under five are stunted (World Bank, 2021) and childhood stunting has a strong negative relationship with future productivity and income (de Onis & Branca , 2016). Almost a third of the employed population in Bangladesh has no formal education and only 5% have tertiary education (BBS, 2018).
Due to the low quality of education, the country ranks 140th out of 183 countries on the Youth Development Index for quality education for young people.
DIRE NEED FOR BETTER, HIGHER-LEVEL SKILLS
Inequalities in Skills and
A SPECIAL FOCUS ON WOMEN
Eighty-one percent of women who do not participate in the labor market said that their family responsibility is the main reason for not looking for work (BBS, 2018). Although deep-rooted gender norms, especially those related to Purdahand care responsibilities, pose challenges to women's economic empowerment, women with higher productivity. This is why the labor force participation rate for highly educated women is high (57%) (BBS, 2018).
Providing women with opportunities to gain employable skills is critical to equality and long-term economic development.
BIGD’s Skills and Jobs Agenda
Youth, especially disadvantaged youth, lack the skills and resources needed to be productively employed today and in the future.
BIGD’s
Skills and Jobs Research
OUR LEARNING
Can Apprenticeship Be an
Effective Pathway to Creating Productive Employment for
Impact Evaluation of PROGRESS
But the impact of on-the-job training on working hours and income remains. The number of hours worked per day increased on average by almost two hours in the short term. On average, participants in the practical training earned BDT 1,050 more per month than non-participants.
Impact Evaluation of STAR
In another impact assessment, BIGD researcher Dr. Narayan Das examined whether additional classroom training has any marginal impact on an internship program. Consequently, it appears that workplace training also has a positive effect on productivity in the long term. STAR graduates, both male and female, were found to be more resilient to the economic shocks caused by COVID-19, both in terms of employment and income.
A July 2020 follow-up survey found that both treatment and control groups suffered steep job and income losses, but the. For example, 30% of women in the treatment group were employed, compared to 20% in the control group. However, a well-designed, job-focused, in-class vocational training can be more effective than apprenticeship.
Working with researchers from institutions including the London School of Economics (LSE) and University College London (UCL), the Independent Evaluation and Research Cell (IERC) found that classroom-based vocational training and on-the-job training have a significant impact on employment outcomes of disadvantaged youth, but the impact of vocational training was greater, almost twice as large. In addition, the study found that youth who received vocational training gained more skills, while those who received on-the-job training gained more farm-specific skills. The authors argue that the lack of certification in apprenticeships, coupled with a lack of transferable technical skills, can trap these young people in the companies they served their apprenticeships in, and job loss can push them back to square one.
Certification and nature of classroom training ie. the more extensive technical skills coverage provided in Uganda may explain why classroom-based vocational training had a greater impact than on-the-job training in Uganda, while classroom-based training provided by STAR in Bangladesh had no additional impact on apprenticeships . The Ugandan study also finds that the benefit-cost ratio of vocational training (3.56) is 2.5 times that of apprenticeships (1.69), which is consistent with the STAR findings.
Can We Reduce the Cost of Apprenticeship yet Maintain
Training Entrepreneurs
DOES IT WORK?
As previously mentioned, BRAC's PROGRESS project has trained and supported a selected group of LE workshop owners, who receive training in health and safety as well as accounting and bookkeeping. Our impact evaluation of PROGRESS shows that the program has been extremely successful in creating and improving a decent working environment among LE companies, for example by providing fire extinguishers and first aid kits, checking electricity. LE business owners who received training were also more likely to keep records of income, expenses and raw materials, which can impact profits.
Average monthly revenue and profit for treatment firms increased by BDT 15,438 and BDT 2,787 respectively; while it increased by BDT 3,211 and BDT 1,199 for control firms between baseline and endpoint, respectively. Growth in savings for treatment firms was also 35% higher compared to growth in control firms. The findings imply that these types of training can have a positive impact on the sustainability and long-term growth of LE enterprises.
A review of 22 randomized evaluations found that although business training increases the use of some good business. The two evaluations of BRAC programs discussed here include many of these components as they provided more holistic support to the enterprises, not just business training.
Can Underprivileged Women Be Successful as
Online Freelancers?
Do Skills Training
Programs Impact Women Differentially?
The results show that the program significantly increases the incomes of both young people and women. Specifically, the income impact for women is 47% of the average outcome for non-participating youth, while the corresponding rate is 18% for men. The intervention increases self-employment for both men and women, but again more so for women.
Concretely, the effort increases self-employment by 15 and 29 percentage points respectively for men and women. Although the results from these studies are uncertain as to whether women benefit more from the training than men, the studies clearly show the great effect of these programs on women. This is significant, especially given the kinds of challenges and disadvantages women in Bangladesh face in the labor market.
A 2020 evidence synthesis by the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) of experimental and quasi-experimental studies found mixed evidence on the impact of vocational training programs targeting women on their short-term employment, with limited evidence that these effects persisted over time (Chang et al., 2020). Two of them took place in Liberia and Kenya where women's labor force participation is the least restrictive. Only the study in Nepal measured long-term impact, one year after the program ended.
In another impact evaluation in Sri Lanka, researchers found that women entrepreneurs with existing small businesses, when provided with training and subsidies, experienced an increase in profits, but the effect was temporary. Similarly, the J-PAL evidence synthesis found mixed results of vocational training on women's earnings. However, the paper found that when standard vocational training is combined with topics such as women's self-confidence, gender equality or agency,
Of the four interventions that provide grants or loans along with training, including the one in Sri Lanka, two had a positive impact on the incomes of men but not on women. Uganda (Bandiera et al., 2020) as well as in conflict-prone South Sudan (Buehren et al., 2017), carried out by IERC and researchers from LSE, has a substantial impact of the program on the self-employment of. The above discussion indicates that in addition to skills training, women need more holistic interventions, including psychosocial support, to benefit significantly from these programs and be economically empowered.
The context
What did we learn from research?
Messages
Women benefit from the skills-building programs: in the case of wage work, not as much as men, and in the case of self-employment or entrepreneurship, as much or more than men. Women's better performance in self-employment and entrepreneurship, which can often be carried out from home, is likely related to prevailing gender norms and values that limit women's physical mobility. Because women face additional challenges in skill building and employment in addition to skills training, women may need more holistic interventions, including psychosocial support, to significantly benefit from these programs and become economically empowered.
List of References
A fashion war that matters: Assessing the international competitiveness of Bangladeshi RMG. https://www.lightcastlebd.com/insights/2020/08/the- fashion-war-that-matters-assessing-bangladesh-rmgs-international-competitiveness Mahmood, S. World Bank, Global Development Indicators. 2021). Unemployment, total (% of total labor force) (ILO modeled estimate) - Bangladesh.https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/.
