Bangladesh will need about 3.6 million skilled workers in the garment industry by 2021. Total labor (skilled and unskilled) demand for the garment industry will be almost six million, says a joint study done by Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) and the Ministry of Finance. The report titled ‘Labor Market and Skills Gap in Bangladesh (Macro and Micro Level Study)’ says the country only had 10.4 per cent trained laborers in 2013 while the rest 89.6 per cent workers were untrained. Domestic skill labor demand will be 72.41 million in 2020. Of this, demand will be 2.91 million in the agro-food sector, 4.42 million in construction and 5.98 million in the readymade garment sector.

Bangladesh is second largest garment exporter in the world after China. Although the garments make up 82 per cent of exports, employment growth in the sector has slowed down. However, other manufacturing sectors have been generating about 3,00,000 new jobs annually since 2010. The World Bank is helping Bangladesh diversify exports beyond the garment sector.

The project will improve competitiveness of existing and potential export-oriented industries such as leather, footwear, plastics and light engineering, where Bangladesh has demonstrated a competitive edge. It will help create more than 90,000 jobs in sectors other than readymade garments and boost the economy and help it integrate further into world trading system, and provide better jobs to youth entering the labor market in the next decade, with a particular focus on improving female labor participation.