Publication: Raise the Bar: Improving the Prospects of Youth and Migrants in Bangladesh
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2025-05-12
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2025-05-12
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Bangladesh’s informal sector accounts for up to 85 percent of employment and is characterized by low productivity and low wages. Youth in particular face significant challenges to accessing economic opportunity, and unemployment has traditionally been higher for them. With youth expected to account for 50 percent of Bangladesh’s working-age population by 2028, their labor market outcomes are critical for the country’s sustainable long-term growth and poverty reduction. International migration also is a major part of Bangladesh’s economy: on average, up to 1 million workers seek temporary employment opportunities overseas, where they could earn three to four times more than at home. However, the exorbitant cost of migration often requires workers to spend their life savings or take out large loans. When COVID-19 reduced demand for labor, forcing hundreds of thousands of working migrants to return to Bangladesh, they struggled with high debt burdens, social ostracism, and difficult reintegration into the domestic labor market. To support these populations and invest in its economic future, Bangladesh sought to enhance employability and productivity for low-income urban youth, microentrepreneurs impacted by the pandemic, and returning migrants.
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“World Bank. 2025. Raise the Bar: Improving the Prospects of Youth and Migrants in Bangladesh. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/43182 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
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