Country trapped in a state of ‘joyless resilience’: Hossain Zillur

Former adviser to the caretaker government Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman has said that Bangladesh has long been viewed as a “resilient nation” with a resilient economy. In reality, however, the country is now trapped in a state of “joyless resilience”—meaning that although resilience has been a national strength, it no longer brings comfort, as Bangladesh remains stuck in a continuous cycle of crises.

He made these remarks on Sunday while speaking as the chief guest at a policy presentation event held in Gulshan, Dhaka.

The event, titled “Beyond Jobless Growth: Towards an Employment-Centred Policy Framework for Bangladesh Through a Post-Neoliberal Lens,” was jointly organised by the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) and German research organisation Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES).

The session was chaired by Labour and Employment Secretary Md Sanowar Jahan Bhuiyan, while the special guests were Max Tunon, Country Director of the International Labour Organization (ILO), and Prof Saima Haque Bidisha, Pro-Vice Chancellor and Professor of Economics at the University of Dhaka.

During the discussion, PPRC Executive Chairman Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman presented a triangular framework to analyse Bangladesh’s development trajectory. He said that between 2016 and 2022, the country was trapped within a “triangle of vicious cycles”—a period when growth failed to generate adequate employment, inequality remained outside policymakers’ focus, and governance became entangled in corruption and the influence of powerful wealthy groups. A series of crises since 2022 has further deepened these challenges, exposing the country’s structural weaknesses.

Dr Rahman said three elements are essential to overcome the current situation- a credible election and genuine representation of the people, the establishment of people-centred governance, and renewed social contract between the state and society.

Speaking at the event, DU Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof Saima Haque Bidisha said women entrepreneurs lack sufficient institutional support. Children of farming families are no longer choosing agriculture as a profession. To address this, she stressed the need for creating new opportunities and promoting agro-based industrialisation. She added that targeted policies and incentives for the freelancing and informal sectors could significantly boost employment and economic growth.

The keynote paper was presented by Dr Mohammad Abdur Razzaque, Chairman of Research and Policy Integration for Development (RAPID). He said Bangladesh’s economic growth has not translated into job creation. “Over the past ten years, manufacturing output has grown by more than ten per cent annually, yet employment in the sector has fallen by around one point five million. The idea that growth automatically generates jobs no longer holds true. We must now frame all policies around sectors that genuinely create employment,” he said.

During the panel discussion, AKM Fahim Mashroor, Chief Executive Officer of BDJobs, said that fifteen years ago Bangladesh produced around three lakh graduates annually; today, more than four and a half lakh graduates enter the job market each year, seventy per cent of them from colleges under the National University. “These colleges have become factories for producing unemployed graduates,” he said.

Mashroor also pointed to major inconsistencies in overseas labour migration. Each year, twelve lakh Bangladeshis go abroad for work, but ninety to ninety-five per cent of them are only secondary-school graduates. “Instead, we should have been able to send at least one lakh skilled workers from the four and a half lakh graduates produced annually. Under the current circumstances, a temporary restriction on low-quality labour migration should be considered,” he added.

Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed, Executive Director of the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) and head of the Labour Reform Commission, said new technologies and machinery are reducing job opportunities. He emphasised the need for retraining workers and creating alternative employment pathways. However, he noted that the Ministry of Labour and Employment currently lacks a dedicated directorate—an institutional gap that poses a major barrier to implementing effective employment policies in the country.

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