Youth with Disabilities and the Labor Market in Bangladesh: Barriers and Policies

Nafisa Iffat

Master's thesis

Abstract:

This study discusses the barriers, gaps in policy and support needs in the labour market inclusion of youth with disabilities, aged 15–29 years of age in Bangladesh. Informed by the Capability Approach, Social Model of Disability, Human Capital Theory and the Rights-Based Approach, the analysis scrutinizes how the employment environment is influenced by individual, structural and institutional determinants. A mixed-methods approach was used (quantitative surveys from 34 survey respondents provided suggestive trends on education, training, work, and need for support and five in-depth interviews helped enrich the information on lived experience). The results show that young people with disabilities confront enduring, multidimensional obstacles to decent work. Motives and aspirations are strong, but mobility, transport, discrimination from employers and centralised services severely limit them. Institutional weaknesses such as cumbersome certification processes, non-responsive public offices, and weak enforcement of provisions for disability-employment limit labour market participation even more. The study does identify, however, several possible avenues for inclusion and a promising framework for the potential for inclusion: decentralisation of TVET services, anti-discrimination enforcement, transport access, job-matching support, and entrepreneurship. They correspond directly with national policy aims and international aspirations. Exclusion from the labour market is primarily due to structural and institutional failures rather than to specific impairment. These barriers can be remedied through targeted policy intervention, good governance and programmatic support to reinforce the abilities of the disabled youth. Although restricted by a small and geographically concentrated sample, the study provides empirical evidence from an under-resourced research area and clear recommendations for enhancing disability-inclusive career options in Bangladesh

Keywords

Youth with disabilities, Bangladesh, labour market inclusion, employment barriers, disability policy, Capability Approach, Social Model of Disability, institutional gaps, accessibility, TVET, disability rights

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 11. 12. 2025

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 19. 1. 2026
• Supervisor: prof. PhDr. Tomáš Sirovátka, CSc.
• Reader: Mgr. Daniela Jaklová Střihavková, Ph.D.

Masaryk University

Faculty of Social Studies

Master programme / field:
Public and Social Policy and Human Resources / Social Policy and Employment Policy