Unemployment means lack of job facilities for able-bodied persons both educated and illiterate. It is a world-wide problem. No country in the world is absolutely free from the problem of unemployment. In fact, it is a common phenomenon in almost all the countries of the world- both developed and developing. Bangladesh is a developing country. It is trapped in a serious unemployment problem. The rate of unemployment in Bangladesh is more than 25% of total population.

Causes of unemployment:

Unemployment occurs when there are more people looking for employment than there are opportunities for employment. Many are the cause of unemployment in Bangladesh. Such as –

>> Population growth: Bangladesh is a country of over population. There job facilities can not keep pace with the increasing number of people. It is now counted as one number problem of Bangladesh. Population has become a burden for the country instead of being an asset. The rate of population growth at present is 21.6 per thousand which is quite alarming.

>> Lack of industrialization: Bangladesh is very backward in industries. They can absorb only a finger-counted number of people. Cottage industries have almost decayed.Their industries can hardly stand in the face of strong and unhealthy of the world competition.

>> Defective education system: Bangladesh education system is very defective. It has little provision for vocational training for a learner. It fails to give him an independent start of life. The number of educated unemployed people is increasing day-by-day for the cause of the session jam in the higher educational institutions.

>> False illusion: There students and youths have false sense of dignity to become officers. They madly run after the illusion of official jobs and remain unemployed. They think that service is more honorable than independent business. Hence they give little importance to the dignity of manual labor.

>> Lack of skill: There is a serious want of skilled people in Bangladesh. The inventory knowledge is fully absent in them. As a result, the unskilled people remain unemployed. Again, the inequitable distribution of national wealth and concentration of wealth to a few are creating unemployment problem directly or indirectly.

>> Lack of investment: Investment paves the way to create opportunities for employment. But most of the people of Bangladesh are hard hit by extreme poverty and live from hand to mouth. As a result, there is a tremendous lack of savings in the country. As there is lack of saving, there is lack of investment. Again, the investors feel secured to invest money in personal enterprises instead of public enterprises due to the political turmoil in the country.

>> Lack of proper utilization of resource: The other countries people often joke Bangladeshi as the ‘Poor inhabitants of a rich country’. This paradoxical statement imply that they have not yet been able to brighten their lot by making proper and best use of their huge hidden natural resource. As a result, they are lagging behind much more the other countries of the world in race of development.

>> Lack of positive belief and outlook: Bangladesh is beset with a serious problem of illiteracy accompanied by superstitions. This problem is posing a great obs tackle to the all-round development and progress of the country. Most of the people of there follow a negative attitude towards life. They are mostly led by the belief in fortune and leave everything to the will of God.

Unemployment problem is a great social evil and malady for Bangladesh. It has given rise to various social crimes. An unemployed man falls in the grip of poverty and loses mental peace. Life becomes burden to him. He becomes a hungry man as well as an angry man. Than he gets involved in different anti-social activities. A proverb also goes, ‘An idle brain is the Devil’s workshop’. This problem is getting more and more acute day by day. It is posing a great threat to the very existence of the nation.