High youth joblessness and soaring prices, among other problems, fueled the mass student-led demonstrations that ousted Sheikh Hasina’s government.

Bangladesh was thrust into the global spotlight this week after large-scale, violent unrest forced the country’s long-time premier, Sheikh Hasina, to quit and flee to neighboring India.

The mass protests began as a student movement against quotas in government jobs but then escalated into a broader anti-government uprising.

The quota scheme reserved over half of well-paid and secure government jobs for specific groups. Many protesters saw it as discriminatory and unfair, particularly at a time when Bangladesh is facing economic stress.

“There weren’t many jobs being created in the private sector as well,” Ahsan H. Mansur, an economist and director of the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh, told DW.

“The unemployment issue is the root cause of the student movement,” he added.

Not enough jobs for the youth

During Hasina’s 15-year rule, Bangladesh made some economic progress, building big-ticket projects such as highways, rail lines and ports, as well as expanding the electric grid.

The country’s garment industry also became one of the world’s most competitive.

But the $450-billion (€412-billion) economy has struggled since the COVID-19 pandemic. Shrinking foreign exchange reserves even pushed the government to seek a multibillion-dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund.

Even though the South Asian country’s gross domestic product is currently growing at over 5% annually, it has struggled to create enough, decent-paying jobs for its vast youth population.

Nearly half of Bangladesh’s 170 million people are aged under 30. While this is generally seen as a demographic dividend, it could turn into a “demographic curse” if these people can’t find productive employment, said Mansur.

Joblessness among people aged 15 to 24 in the country was a high 15.7% in 2023, according to the International Labor Organization.

At the same time, hundreds of thousands of young new graduates are entering the labor market every year. “But they are not employable, given the extremely poor quality of education and the lack of required skills,” said Mansur, pointing out that the youth “felt deprived, cheated upon and that they will never get employed.”

Soaring prices hit people hard

Against this backdrop, one of the big tasks facing the interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, which was sworn in on Thursday, will be to facilitate job growth.

But that’s not the only challenge. Bangladesh has seen persistently high inflation in recent years, with the rate hovering at nearly 10% in 2023.

Rising food and commodity prices, in particular, have been a major concern for many Bangladeshis. “People have been frustrated and the income distribution and inequality was getting very bad in the country,” said Mansur.