Outsourcing condition of Bangladesh
Bangladesh has a fascinating story on oDesk. In 2009, Bangladesh accounted for only 2% of the total hours worked on oDesk. Today, it accounts for 10%, making Bangladesh the #3 country for contractors, behind only the Philippines and India. I did some digging around to see what was driving Bangladesh’s tremendous success, and my guess is a combination of three factors.
The first factor is the demographics. Bangladesh has a young, educated and rapidly grouping population. Of the country’s 150 million people in 2010, almost 56 million were under the age of 18. In 2010, 46% of Bangladeshis used mobile phones. While the unemployment rate is officially estimated to be around 5%, almost 40% of the country is underemployed, working only a few hours a week at very low wages. Net: Bangladesh has a young, educated workforce that is eager for more economic opportunity.
The second factor is population density. Bangladesh is the most densely populated large country in the world, and the city of Dhaka has 16 million people, with almost 60,000 residents per square mile. Net: Things spread quickly in this type of environment.
And finally, you have an enormous potential for significant earnings growth. The per-capita gross national income in Bangladesh was $700 in 2010. Assuming the average contractor earns $10 an hour, a Bangladeshi contractor can earn the average annual income in less than 2 weeks of work on oDesk. Net: There’s a huge financial upside to working online — for both individuals and the country’s overall economy — compared to local opportunities.
So my assessment is that when you combine…
Bangladesh has a fascinating story on oDesk. In 2009, Bangladesh accounted for only 2% of the total hours worked on oDesk. Today, it accounts for 10%, making Bangladesh the #3 country for contractors, behind only the Philippines and India. I did some digging around to see what was driving Bangladesh’s tremendous success, and my guess is a combination of three factors.
The first factor is the demographics. Bangladesh has a young, educated and rapidly grouping population. Of the country’s 150 million people in 2010, almost 56 million were under the age of 18. In 2010, 46% of Bangladeshis used mobile phones. While the unemployment rate is officially estimated to be around 5%, almost 40% of the country is underemployed, working only a few hours a week at very low wages. Net: Bangladesh has a young, educated workforce that is eager for more economic opportunity.
The second factor is population density. Bangladesh is the most densely populated large country in the world, and the city of Dhaka has 16 million people, with almost 60,000 residents per square mile. Net: Things spread quickly in this type of environment.
And finally, you have an enormous potential for significant earnings growth. The per-capita gross national income in Bangladesh was $700 in 2010. Assuming the average contractor earns $10 an hour, a Bangladeshi contractor can earn the average annual income in less than 2 weeks of work on oDesk. Net: There’s a huge financial upside to working online — for both individuals and the country’s overall economy — compared to local opportunities.
So my assessment is that when you combine…
- A young, educated population eager for opportunity, and then
- Pack them all into a small geographic area, and introduce
- Compelling economics…
