Employers struggle to recruit skilled workers due to structural mismatch: Speakers

While a couple of million people, including a significant number of general graduates, enter Bangladesh’s job market, employers struggle to recruit them, specially technical human resources, due to structural mismatch in education systems, speakers at a program on Tuesday said. 

According to them, the primary solution lies in diversifying the education system toward vocational training and re-skilling graduates to meet the specific demands of manufacturing, agriculture, and the global service sectors.

They further said learning a third language targeting the global job market for all the technical and non-technical job seekers is also a must to provide a huge number of people with job opportunities.

They came up with the observations at the opening ceremony of the day-long  "Technical Career Fair 2026" at the Krishibid Institution (KIB) Auditorium in the city’s Farmgate area, hosted by Bdjobs.com.

Executive Director of UCEP Bangladesh Dr. Abdul Karim, Founder & CEO of Bdjobs.com Fahim Mashroor,  Director (Programs) of UCEP Bangladesh Dr. Abdul Mannan, Deputy Director of TMSS Mamunur Rashid and a Director of Bdjobs.com Prokash Roy Chowdhury spoke on the occasion.

In his speech, Dr. Abdul Karim said that in developed countries, the ratio between graduates from general and technical education is roughly 20 to 80. 

“In our country, it is the exact opposite—80 per cent of our graduates come from general education, while only 20 per cent come from technical streams, including BSc, diplomas, and others. Whatever the case may be, this scenario must be reversed, he said." 

Indicating the imminent challenges with Bangladesh’s  LDC graduation, the country must compete in a world where tax-free access will vanish and costs will rise. 

“Our massive population can only become a resource if we prioritize skill training, as seen in developed nations where technical graduates significantly outnumber general ones," he added.

Fahim Mashroor said around 0.7 students graduate every year in Bangladesh, while approximately 2.1 to 2.2 million new individuals enter the labor market.

“The largest sectors of our economy are manufacturing and agriculture, which do not inherently require a high volume of university graduates,” he said.

The country’s actual annual demand for graduates does not exceed 200,000 to 250,000, he said, adding that it is a basic principle of economics that when supply outstrips demand, the value drops. 

Prokash Roy Chowdhury highlighted the event, saying that it is expected to help employers find suitable candidates, as the biggest pain point for recruiters today is finding skilled ‘blue-collar’ or ‘gray-collar’ workers.

He informed that 20,000 job seekers have applied online to visit the day-long event.

Following the opening, the chief guest, along with others, formally opened the fair by ribbon-cutting.

Around 100 local and multinational corporations (MNCs) and skill training providers participated in the career expo, aiming to recruit over 2,000 professionals. Alongside direct job applications, the event also features more than 20 skill development and training institutes dedicated to enhancing the employability of young jobseekers.

A visit to the event revealed that jobseekers were visiting stalls to learn about scopes while recruiters were seen guiding them.

Kazi Shaiful Arif,  Head of HR and Admin of Solaric, a group of renewable energy development companies, told the FE that he conducted some on-spot interviews to recruit for the organisation.

“Here at the event, we look to shortlist candidates having adequate basics of their respective academic fields, after recruitment we shall train them as per our requirement,” he said.

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