The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) has urged Bangladesh to accelerate labour market reforms after a new foresight study identified the forces likely to reshape jobs through 2035, while arguing that many of the challenges confronting the country’s workforce are shared across the Global South.
Presenting the findings at a global webinar on Wednesday, the think tank identified 27 drivers of change, highlighted the expansion of the global digital economy and changing national social aspirations as the two biggest uncertainties, and proposed reforms spanning education, skills development, industrial policy and social protection.
The study found five structural realities are likely to persist regardless of how those uncertainties unfold: irreversible digitalisation, a shift towards higher-value services, persistent skills mismatches, continued exposure to climate and trade shocks and the growing importance of institutional agility in determining who benefits from future opportunities.
To address those challenges, CPD recommended eight policy priorities, including reforming education and skills development, expanding lifelong reskilling, adopting employment-linked industrial policies, strengthening labour market information systems, modernising social protection for gig and platform workers and providing targeted transition support for vulnerable groups.
Chairing the webinar, Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow of CPD, said conventional forecasting based on historical data and linear projections is no longer sufficient as labour markets are changing faster than policymaking.
“The world of work is changing. The labour ecosystem is changing, and the policies and institutions are struggling to keep pace,” he said, adding that foresight analysis offers a better framework for preparing for an increasingly uncertain future.
Presenting the Bangladesh study, Towfiqul Islam Khan, additional research director at CPD, said institutional agility would increasingly determine whether countries benefit from technological and structural change.
International experts from the International Labour Organization, LIRNEasia, JustJobs Network and the Sur Futuro Initiative said public policy would determine whether technological change and digital transformation reduce or widen existing inequalities. They stressed closer alignment between education and labour market demand, stronger public-private partnerships for workforce development and broader social protection.
The webinar, organised by CPD with regional and international partners under the FutureWORKS Asia initiative, concluded that the priority should now shift from diagnosing future labour market challenges to implementing policies that support inclusive job creation, workforce transition and decent work.
