Increasing Age Limit for Govt Jobs to Become a Burden for Country?

Although the demand to increase the age of entry and retirement from government service in Bangladesh is not entirely new, it has recently been discussed again.

Job aspirants have protested this demand at various times. The organization of administrative cadre officers 'Administrative Service Association' applied to the cabinet department on September 5 to make the maximum age limit for entry into service 35 and retirement age 65 years.

Since the matter falls within the scope of the Ministry of Public Administration, the Cabinet Division sent the letter or proposal to the Ministry of Public Administration on September 18.

Some people think that because of that letter, the age limit can be increased from both sides.

In that case, the question is whether the implementation of this new proposal regarding increasing the age limit of employment will create more burden along with the increasing expenditure of the state.

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There are many questions about the rationale for increasing the age limit.

What is the rationale for increasing the age limit?
At present, the maximum age limit for entering government service is 30 years, and the maximum retirement age is 59 years. However, there is an exception in the case of freedom fighter quota holders. The age of entry into service is 32 years and the retirement age is 60 years.

The age limit is not high only for freedom fighters. Retirement age is also higher in certain professions. This is where the Administrative Service Association finds the discrepancy.

For example, according to the 'Public University Teachers (Retirement) Act, of 2012', the retirement age of public university teachers is 65 years.

According to Article 96 of the Constitution, the retirement age of Supreme Court judges is 67 years.

The organization said in its letter that many of those who have been appointed contractually for various periods in the government service have a retirement age of more than 67 years.

Meanwhile, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) 2023 survey, the average life expectancy of people in Bangladesh is 72.3 years, which is higher than two decades ago.

Those who are raising the demand feel that the age limit for employment should be fixed following the life span.

In this context, the president of the organization Anwar Ullah told BBC Bangla, "Since the average life expectancy has increased, if the retirement age is not increased, there remains an issue of economic security."

Although many disagreed with his statement.

After the interim government assumed power, many government employees were promoted simultaneously. One of the reasons for this is that many people did not get regular promotions during the Sheikh Hasina government.

Anwar Ullah was asked whether the demand to increase the age limit is being made to compensate the government employees who have been deprived for more than a century.

In reply, he said, "There is no reason to think that this is to give opportunity to the deprived. Because those who are getting promoted, their salary will not increase much. Only the tenure will increase."

As many arguments against raising the age limit
Anwar Ullah, however, says that raising the age limit in the service will not increase salaries or costs by much.

However, experts think that raising the age limit will increase the cost to the government. Along with that many complications can be created in administration activities.

For those who have not been able to join the government service despite trying for years or who are nearing the end of the age limit for government service or who are deprived of various privileges of government service due to political reasons, increasing the age limit is an opportunity for them.

But those who prepare for new government jobs will fall amid unequal competition.

Economist Mostafizur Rahman, a Distinguished Fellow of the Center for Policy Dialogue or CPD, thinks that the government will be under pressure in the long run.

"Raising the retirement age has immediate and medium long-term effects. Extending the retirement period will delay the pension pressure. But when you have to pay, you have to pay more," he said.

A large portion of Bangladesh's budget is spent on salaries and allowances of government employees.

In the current financial year, 81,580 crores have been allocated for the salaries and allowances of government officials and employees. Before that, the allocation for this sector in the financial year 2023-2024 was 77,489 crores.

In that case, if the proposal to increase the retirement age limit is accepted, the government will have to increase the allocation in this sector.

Another area of ​​complication related to raising the age limit for entry into government jobs is unemployment.

According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics or BBS, the number of unemployed people in Bangladesh is 25,90,000. However, in reality, the number is higher according to economists.

Besides, according to the Bangladesh Institute of Development Research or BIDS, the unemployment rate in the country is 3.6 percent. Out of this youth unemployment is about 80 percent.

Experts believe that the inclination of the youth of Bangladesh towards government jobs is now high. If the entry age is raised further, many of this vast workforce will eventually prepare for employment with the hope of 'getting a government job one day'.

As a result, the economy will suffer as these youth cannot be employed for a long time.

However, economist Mostafizur Rahman also thinks, "Not everyone is hoping for a government job." If they don't get a job with a job test, they might work somewhere else."

Other Complications and Questions
Former Secretary Abu Alam Shahid Khan thinks that increasing the age limit is not logical. Because for the last 10 years there has been no problem of session congestion, if a student studies regularly, he gets a chance to take the exam at least seven times up to 30 years.

"Even if there is an exam in two years, he gets two to three chances. Still, I don't know why this movement has been going on for quite some time," said Mr. Khan.

Also, there is the question of how well entrants at the end of the age spectrum will be able to adapt to younger workers.

Mr. Khan says, "When you join the job as a young, energetic, fresh graduate, the amount of work you can do, you can't do at 35."

Terming the demand to raise the retirement age limit to 65 years as a "funny thing", Mr. Khan said, "Raising it will create sterility in government jobs."

The age has been increased before
Previously, the age of entry into government service in Bangladesh was 27 years and the retirement age was 57 years.

But in 1991, although the retirement age was not increased, the age of entry into service was increased to 30 years. Then in 2011, the retirement age was increased to 59 years.

At that time, the job aspirants protested to raise the age of entry into the job again the next year after raising the retirement age. But the then government did not respond to it.

In 2019 also, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had to face questions regarding making the age limit for entering the service to 35 years.

She then said that raising the entry age to 35 would be a "pathetic situation".

She argued that after 35 years of job examination, completion of training takes 37 years to join. "Then who will run a government?" she asked.

Meanwhile, job aspirants took to the streets last May to raise the age limit.

However, the President of the organization of government employees, Md. Ullah said that they can demand the government from their place to raise the age limit. "But if the government like it, they can do 32 to 33 to enter. On the other hand, 60 to 61 to retire."