DHAKA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank has approved a 250 million U.S. dollars development policy operation to help the Bangladeshi government strengthen its capacity to create more, better-paid and quality jobs in a rapidly changing environment.

The Programmatic Jobs Development Policy Credit aims at supporting Bangladesh in developing a stronger policy and institutional framework to address barriers and creating more and better jobs for citizens, including women, youth and the vulnerable population, said the lender in a statement received here Thursday.

The jobs development policy credit is the first in a series of three operations that complements the World Bank portfolio in the country.

Despite Bangladesh's robust economic growth, the pace of job creation has slowed in recent years, and almost stalled in the readymade garments sector, said the bank.

The growth rate for jobs fell to 1.8 percent in 2010-16 from 2.7 percent in 2003-10, it said, adding that women, workers in lagging regions, and youth in particular face challenges in accessing quality jobs.

According to the lender, climate change has exacerbated the job challenge, underscoring the need to significantly increase employment in the non-agriculture sector.

"Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in accelerating growth and reducing poverty, but the rate of job creation has not kept up with economic growth. Creating more and better jobs is a prerequisite for the country to achieve its vision of upper-middle income status," said Qimiao Fan, World Bank country director for Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.

"This will require the economy to create jobs for the 2.2 million youths entering the labor force each year, while attracting more women into the labor market. This program supports reforms to stimulate trade and private sector investment, strengthen social protection for workers and help the vulnerable population access jobs."