Impact of COVID-19 on Fresh Graduate’s Job Market in Bangladesh

1. Introduction

1.1 Background
Covid-19 first identified on December 31, 2019 in Wuhan, China. After that in March 11, 2020
World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Covid-19 affected every
individual and all sector of the society. COVID-19 increased the graduate unemployment rate
across the world. The world unemployment rate rose to 10% in which 1 in 5 employees lost their
jobs (ILO, 2021). Already many graduates do not have any job or loss their job in pandemic.
Beside this new graduates are being added every year to the existing job market. It makes the
situation even more complex. They are highly affected because a large number of opportunities
are being cut, many fresh graduates missed the opportunity of work experiences due to
lockdown.

1.2 Justification
As Covid-19 is a recent pandemic which hits the job market and creates unemployment issue by
affecting every sector, this paper intends to examine the disastrous impact of Covid-19 on the
condition of fresh graduate job market situation of Bangladesh. The research outcomes and
subsequent in-depth analysis will benefit the employers and fresh graduates.

1.3 Literature Review

COVID-19's effect on the decision to delay graduation, the decision to change major, and
preferences for online learning (Aucejo et al., 2020). The labor market is currently experiencing
unprecedented weakness that’s why many workers are being sent to unemployment even while
employers desire to maintain hiring (Forsythe et al., 2020). Sectors and occupations that suffer
the most from the crisis are also the most affected by the disaffection of workers, which may
increase their hiring costs (Hensvik et al., 2021). Recent job losses and the col-lapse in
investment, a strong and rapid recovery would require a huge surge in new activity, which
sustained high levels of uncertainty will discourage (Altig et al., 2020).Creating meaningful
interventions to assist the newly unemployed will be difficult because of the unprecedented
number of individuals and families that are affected and because of the diverse contextual and
personal factors that characterize this new population (Blustein et al., 2020). Race, age group,
lockdown severity and infected count play a vital role in determining the job loss trends in each
state (Roy et al., 2021).

1.4 Hypothesis
Covid-19 may have an impact on job market.

1.5 Objectives
To analyze and find out the positive or negative impact of Covid-19 in the job market.
2. Materials and Methods

2.1 Site and location

For the survey 50 respondents will be selected who completed graduation from American
International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) in during Covid-19 pandemic.

2.2 Research design

This research is an exploratory research.

2.3 Sampling procedure

This procedure will be cluster sampling and an online survey will be conducted. Online survey
questionnaires will be provided to the respondent.

2.4 Data collecting system

It will use primary & secondary data. For primary data, observe these current circumstances and
ask some question through questionnaire. For secondary data, should be use different types
research, online articles, journals, and websites.

2.5 Statistical approach

Microsoft Word and Excel with some statistical and analytical methods and tools like SPSS
Software will be used for analyze the data and for analyzing those data which will be collected
from questionnaire.

3. Results and discussions

3.1 Profile of the participants

Table 1: Distribution of the respondent’s gender, age, highest education level.

Respondent Information Percentage

Gender
Male 56.70%
Female 43.30%
Age Group
22-23 20 %
24-25 46.66%
26-27 33.34%
Highest education level
Hon's degree equivalent 53.30%
Master's degree equivalent 46.70%
References

Aucejo, E.M., French, J.., Araya, M. P. U.., Zafar, B. 2020. The impact of COVID-19 on student
experiences and expectations: Evidence from a survey. Journal of Public Economics
191:104271.

Forsythe, E., Khan, L. B., Lange, F., Wiczer, D. 2020. Labor demand in the time of COVID-19:
Evidence from vacancy postings and UI claims. Journal of Public Economics 189:104238.

Hensvik, L., Barbanchon. ThomasLe., Rathelot, R. 2021. Job search during the COVID-19 crisis.
Journal of Public Economics 194:104349.

Altig, D., Baker, S., Barrero, J. M., Bloom, N., Bunn, P., Chen, S., Davis, S. J., Leather, J.,
Meyer, B., Mihaylov, E., Mizen, P., Parker, N., Renault, T., Smietanka, P., Thwaites, G. 2020.
Journal of Public Economics 191:104274.

Blustein, D. L., Duffy, R., Ferreira, J. A., Cohen-Scali, V., Cinamon, R. G., Allan, B. A.2020.
Unemployment in the time of COVID-19: A research agenda. Journal of Vocational Behavior
119: 103436.

Roy, S., Dutta, R., Ghosh, P. 2021. Identifying key indicators of job loss trends during COVID-
19 and beyond. Social Sciences & Humanities Open 4(1): 100163.