With the rising trend of the world economy, Bangladesh is on its path to economic recovery and growth, while aiming to join the league of its middle-income neighbor countries. The government of Bangladesh has recognized that these ambitions depend on building a strong basement of quality education and skills to harness the productive potential of its population, especially the nations youth. If it is possible to facilitate the linkages between education and skills training then ultimately it will make Bangladeshs youth people more employable. Study suggests that while the radiation of school dropping children is higher among the poorer families, the chance of dropping out rises after nine years of age unthinking of socio-economic status. Children that are out of school, and those that are NEET, tend to be from economically disadvantaged households and vulnerable populations. In terms of percentage of Out of School Children (OOSC), female urban slum dwellers above the age of 13 years are more disadvantaged than poor rural girls (Dewan and Sarkar, 2017). 

Bangladesh is considered as a developing economy. Over the last decade, Bangladesh has enjoyed an average annual growth rate of 6.43 percent (Trading economics, 2019). Yet Bangladesh spends less on education and training programs than all other countries in South Asia except Sri Lanka. There is scope for improvement in education, training, and development to reduce the unemployment problem in the country (Rashid and Islam, 2020). Presently, in Bangladesh with all other developing nations NEET level is also very high that reduces the total productivity of the country. There may have some reasons for the increasing NEET level in Bangladesh. If it is possible to find out the reasons and eliminate then the economy of the country will go for faster movement. The researchers predicted some of the reasons those may have some direct relationships with the NEET problem in Bangladesh. The lengthy job recruitment processing time has taken by the BPSC is one of the predicted reasons. 

This study seeks to answer the question that is there any relationship between the lengthy job recruitment process and NEET rate in Bangladeshs respect to BCS exam taken by the Bangladesh public service commission? A survey was done on selected 4 years BCS exam processing time taken by the BPSC against which NEET levels are also available for the study to find the relationship. The results indicate that the effect of lengthy job recruitment processing time (in days) taken by the Bangladesh public service commission respect to BCS exam in increasing NEET level in Bangladesh is relevant and statistically significant.

The Objective of the Study: 

General Objective - The general objective of the study was to identify the relationship between the Lengthy Job Recruitment Process and NEET rate in Bangladeshs respect to BCS Exam Taken by the Bangladesh Public Service Commission.

Specific Objective - To explore the effects of a lengthy job recruitment process by the Bangladesh Public Service Commission (BPSC) on NEET rate in Bangladesh respect to Bangladesh Civil Service recruitment exams.

The study reviews different theories related to the variables as well as empirical evidence from different research articles and publications captured herewith.

a. Theoretical Review: This section mainly focused on theories that anchor the study in terms of variables.

Recruitment - Recruitment is a process where the aim is identifying, screening, short listing, and hiring potential resources for appointing of the vacant positions in an organization. It is the main function of human resource management. Recruitment can be explained as the process of selecting the right person at right time for the right position. Recruitment also refers to the process of rubbing, choosing, and appointing dynamic candidates to fulfill the organizations human resource requirements (Tutorial Point, 2019).

Job Recruitment Process - Process means the way through which a job is done. Recruitment is also a process it needs to follow a chain of tasks to get the desired outcomes. It can be said that when a systematic way is followed to appoint human resources in an organization is called the recruitment process. The recruitment process can be expressed as the following five interrelated stages: 

Fig 1: Recruitment Process (Source:  Business Jargons).

Bangladesh Public Service Commission: BCS exams as the recruitment process - In Bangladesh, the job sector are primarily divided into two parts- Public sector and Private sector job. The public sector job is totally controlled by the government through its different wings and the Bangladesh Public Service Commission is one of them. Bangladesh Public Service Commission (BPSC) is a quasi-judicial constitutional entity was founded in 1972. The commission is fully responsible and accountable for the recruit-ment of civil service servants in the government of Bangladesh (BPSC, 2016).

To recruit the civil service servants from the Bangladeshi nationals BPSC follow the BCS exams. Bangladesh Civil Service is the civil service of the Bangladesh government more popularly known by its acronym BCS. It was derived from the Central Superior Services of Pakistan. It has been familiar as Bangladesh Civil Service by Act of Bangladesh after the liberation war. The Bangladesh Civil Service is a countrywide top most lucrative, tough and competitive examination in the country guided by the Bangladesh Public Service Commission (BPSC) to recruit the various Bangladesh Civil Service cadres, including BCS (Foreign Affairs), BCS (Admin), BCS (Police), BCS (Taxation), and among others. The examination held in three phases - i. the preliminary exam; ii. the written exam; and iii. the viva voce. The whole process starting from the advertisement of the preli-minary exam to declare the final results takes one and half to two years approximately (Wikipedia, 2016).

Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) Examination is a process of three-stages that comprises with approximately 0.02 percent success rate for all cadres and 0.005 percent for general cadres, though it varies for different years. The stages are the followings:

1. Phase I: Preliminary Examination - This is a qualifying test usually held to minimize the number of students to take the written exam.

2. Phase II: Written Examination - This is the main test, usually held in the recruitment process to narrow the number of potential candidates.

3. Phase III: Viva Voce (Interview) - It is the oral test and is held after the publication of the written result.

Finally the result is published about 1.5 to 2 months after finishing the viva voce and the best candidates are selected (Wikipedia, 2019).

NEET - NEET is the abbreviation of "Not in Employ-ment, Education, or Training". It refers to a person who is not employed, not in school or vocational training. To identify a person as NEET was first introduced in the United Kingdom, but the use of the word has spread to other countries and regions, including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Canada, and the United States (Wikipedia, 2019). The term ‘NEET widely used in the field of education when its full meaning is ‘Not in Education, Employment or Training but the young generation prefers to use it as a term for bums/layouts with no future (Hanna-handben, 2009).

The portion of youth who are neither in education nor in employment or training among young generation (the so-called "NEET rate") is comparatively a new indicator, but the global organizations and the media are emphasizing an increasing importance on it. The concept of "NEET" has popularity that is related with its possessed opportunity to trace a broad arrangement of vulnerabilities among the youth or young gene-ration, early school leaving, contacting the issues of unemployment, and labor market discouragement. These are all the issues that access greater attention as young people continuing to feel the consequences of the economic crisis, especially in advanced economies (Sara, 2015).

NEETs in Bangladesh - Bangladesh is a remarkable country in the present worlds growing economy that has already met several targets of the MDGs is now on the road to achieving the targets of SDGs. But to achieve the target unemployment problem especially in young generation aged between15 to 24 years is a major obstacle. There are several reasons for this problem that increase the level of NEET rate in this country. 

The rate of NEET is significantly higher in Bangladesh. Presently, Bangladesh is in the stage of achieving inclusive and equitable growth along with sustainable development. Youth is the fuel of achieving the targets. The experience of the older generation and the energy of youth will take Bangladesh in the next door of growth and develop-ment. But, if a major portion of young people become NEET then the reduced labor force participation will surely hamper the national productivity and thus the growth rate (Kalimullah & Zaman, 2018).

NEETs Level in Bangladesh and Recruitment Processing Time (in Days) by the BPSC for Selected years BCS Exams: 

Table 1: NEET level and Recruitment time is taken by BPSC. Source: ILOSTAT, News-portal, BPSC Annual Reports. 

b. Empirical Review: 

This section highlights key readings relevant to the study. The NEET concept is relatively new for the old age people as it is a sort of new generation. It can be explained as the following way that the young people when they feel they are excluded from any sort of social activities; as a result, they are withdrawn from their home or even from their own room for months, maybe for years, where they remain engaged in their personal interests such as the video games, internet, or social networking, etc. They are often demotivated, reconciled young people who cannot see any future in their lives (Storz, 2010). At present young people struggle in the labor market in spite of being the most highly educated generation in history. The rate of unemployment among young generation is higher than the prime-aged adults in the society those who has the intension to work in poorer-quality jobs and temporary contracts or to earn lower wages than old workers (OECD, 2016).

The young people whose NEET status is not so deeply entrenched and do not have major barriers to learning, informal learning programs are mostly helpful for them. They are most effective when they have malleable program features (such as fleet start dates), offer young people a wide range of courses, including good quality vocational options that have labor market currency, and incorporate excellent IAG. The use of individual action plans, or learner agreements, and the presence of a mentor are also important components (Nelson and ODonnell, 2012). In Britain, there has been a particular policy related young generation who leaves full time education before the age of sixteen and then pass a major time not in education, training or employment (NEET) (Bynner and Parsons, 2002). According to Maguire (2015), the policy makers in Britain exactly can define the term NEET as the way that young people who are not engaged in regular education, training or employment, and if this rate is high in number and continuous for longer period then it will difficult to challenge them. Spending a lot of time, not in employment, education, or training (NEET) has negative impacts on physical and mental health and the effects turn into a greater problem when time spent as NEET is at a young age or lasting for longer period. Because the possibility of becoming NEET follows a social gradient, minimizing the proportion of people in NEET could help to minimize the inequalities of health issues (PHE, 2014).

In Asia-Pacific region the NEET rate can help to booster the effects of labor market challenges faced by the youth population. The NEET rate precisely a confluence of elements including the early school leavers, unemployed, and those who are not interested in looking for work. Finally, NEET rate will be used to facilitate benchmark progress unto SDGs 8 and stop NEET data shortages (ILO, 2016).

The worldwide concerning fact is that the young generation is three times more likely than their parents to be out of work. In Greece and South Africa, more than fifty percent of the young people are not employed, and the jobless level is also 25 percent or more. The scenario is also common in the Middle East, Europe and Northern Africa. Surprising fact is that in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, there are more than twelve percent are not in employment, education, or training (NEET) among all 15- to 24 years-olds. As per ILO presumption there are 75 million unemployed young people in the world. And the rate will be triple if underemployed youth are also counted. Such digit illustrates not just a huge pool of unutilized talent; they are also a source of numerous potential social trouble and individual pessimism (Mourshed et al., 2014). The part of youths who are normally classified as Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) and look for trends in terms of posture and predispositions, as well as, bunch ordination in terms of key factors (e.g. location, age, and gender) for those who are formally Classified as NEETs (ESF, 2013).

From the beginning the NEET rate in case of women is higher than the men though the gap is decreasing over the recent years. The main reason for this gap is the women of the whole world are more interested to look after their family or home and that is why they remain inactive. But in case of men they remain inactive only when they are sick or disabled (Powell, 2018).

The study has applied a descriptive research design. Data was collected from secondary sources like- ILO, News-portal, and BPSC annual reports. The NEET data for Bangladesh was extracted from ILOSTAT and covers the period of 2010-2017. Due to the non-availability of data for the eight-year time series, only four years were included for the study. The data about Job Recruitment time taken by BPSC for BCS exams was extracted from several news-portal and BPSC annual reports (2015-17). Data were analyzed by using simple linear regression analysis. The regression model is given below:

           Y= β0+ β1X1 + e 

Where: 

     Y = NEET Rate in Bangladesh

     β0 = Constant

     β1 = Beta coefficients

     X1= Job Recruitment Time Taken by BPSC 

     e = Error Term

Data were analyzed through descriptive analysis (means and standard deviation), correlation analysis (Pearson Correlation), and simple linear regression analysis, to test the nature and strength of the relationship between the lengthy job recruitment process and NEET rate in Bangladesh regarding the BCS exam taken by the Bangladesh Public Service Commission.

I. Descriptive Analysis

Table 2: Descriptive Statistics 

The above statement shows the average NEET rate in Bangladesh and average job recruitment time for the BCS exam taken by the BPSC by indicating their Std. Deviation. 

II. Correlation Analysis

Table 3: Pearson Correlations 

Pearsons correlation coefficient gives information about the degree of correlation as well as the direction of the correlation. Bivariate test results of the Pearson Correlation Table 3 showing the degree of correlation between the variables. Here, the result of the correlation has indicated that job recruitment time taken by the BPSC of selected years BCS exam has a positive correlation with the NEET rate in Bangladesh with the value of r = 0.932, p < 0.05. Therefore, in this study, the independent variable (Job recruitment time taken by the BPSC) is correlated with the dependent variable (NEET rate in Bangladesh) for the selected years BCS exam in Bangladesh. It indicates that there is an influence of the lengthy job recruitment process on the NEET rate in Bangladesh.

III. Linear Regression Analysis

This section presents a discussion of the results of inferential statistics. The researcher introduced a simple linear regression analysis so as to determine the relationship between Job Recruitment Time Taken by the BPSC and NEET Rate in Bangladesh. The researcher used the statistical package SPSS-23 to enter and compute the measurements of the linear regression for the study and the P-value was incorporated in reference to a significance level of 0.10. Findings are presented in the following tables.  

From the below Table 4: Model Summary, the Coefficient of determination explains the extent to which changes in the dependent variable can be explained by the changes in the independent variable or the percent of the variation in the dependent variable (NEET rate in Bangladesh) that is explained by the independent variable (Job recruitment time taken by the BPSC). The independent variable that was studied, explain 86.90 % of the variance in increasing NEET rate in Bangladesh is influenced by the job recruitment processing time taken by the Bangladesh Public Service Commission in case of BCS exams as represented by the R2. Therefore, this indicates that other factors not studied in this research contribute 13.10 % of the variance in the dependent variable.

From the below Table 5: ANOVA, results indicate the overall goodness of fit in terms of the extent to job recruitment time (in days) taken by the BPSC in case of BCS exams that explain the relationship with NEET rate in Bangladesh for selected years from 2010-17 that were studied. The P-value is 0.068, which is less than the significant level of 0.10. Hence, the model is overall a good fit ,and job recruitment time (in days) taken by the BPSC in case of BCS exams is a good measure to explore the relationship with NEET rate in Bangladesh studied.

Table 4: Model Summary 

Table 5: ANOVA Table 

Table 6: Coefficientsa Table 

Significant Level= 0.10. From the above Table 6: Coefficients, the following regression function is extracted;

Y= 3.990 + 0.029 X1

Where: Y= NEET Rate in Bangladesh, β0 = Constant, X1 = Job Recruitment Time Taken by BPSC (in days). 

The beta coefficients indicate the change in NEET rate in Bangladesh attributed to a unit change in the predictor variable if all other factors held constant. Hence, a unit change in Job Recruitment Time (in days) Taken by BPSC in case of BCS exams causes a 0.029 change in NEET rate in Bangladesh, while all other factors held constant with P-value 0.068. Therefore, the above scenario indicates that there is a significant positive relationship between the NEET rate in Bangladesh and job recruitment time taken by the BPSC in the case of BCS exams. So it can be said that, if the job recruitment process is lengthy for BCS exams by the BPSC then the NEET rate will be increased and it will create some adverse effects on the young generation of the country and finally the national productivity and sustainable growth and development.

As a developing country in the South-Asian region, Bangladesh has to face several problems. But the problems become tremendous when it is found that the average NEET rate in Bangladesh is higher than the other neighbors in this region. The study found that the average NEET rate is 26.65 percent which is really surprising. This NEET rate indicates that among 100 youths aged 15-24 years about 27 (more than one fourth) are not in employment, education, or training. If the huge number of young people is not productive then the economic growth and development will not be faster enough while the countrys overall economy vastly depends on youths. Future earnings and employment of the society is strictly affected by NEET. A young person who is NEET will earn substantially less over his or her lifetime. When they are employed against lower earnings with a greater chance of being unemployment, means that being NEET compel a ‘wage scar on an individual. Since the young people in NEET group come from the various backgrounds and characteristics, the NEET being a short period as part of the normal transition. But there are momentous obstacles to take part in education or work for others-like, having a conductible or mental health problem, being a adolescent parent, or lack of support from the family (Copps and Keen, 2009). Since Bangladesh is on the road to achieving the targets of SDGs, it needs to focus on NEET issues immediately to reduce it and to maintain constant growth and development. This study concluded that there is a significant relationship between the Lengthy Job Recruitment Process and NEET rate in Bangladeshs respect to BCS Exam Taken by the Bangladesh Public Service Commission. As evident from this study, lengthy job recruitment processing time increases the NEET level in Bangladesh. Therefore, the Bangladesh Public Service Commission needs to be more efficient and attentive to complete the recruitment procedure in a shorter period of time than that is now.

The work has been done with the support of the authors solely of this paper. There was no financial support from any institution to conduct the study. 

The author declared no potential conflicts of the interest with respect to the present research work.