Bangladesh Labor Market.
April 4, 2008
The labor force in 1998 was estimated at approximately 64 million workers. In 1996, approximately 11% of the civilian labor force was employed in the industrial sector. Agriculture accounted for 63% of workers, and service employees were 26% of the labor force. Statistics are unreliable because of a large, informal, unreported market. The unemployment rate in 2001 was estimated at 35%.
Although 1.8 million out of the five million workers in the formal sector of the economy were unionized, this represented only a small fraction of the economically active population. Most unions are affiliated with political parties. Strikes are a common form of workers protest. There are industrial tribunals to settle labor disputes. The government can impose labor settlements through arbitration, as well as by declaring a strike illegal. Unions have become progressively more aggressive in asserting themselves, especially on the political scene.
Public sector workers’ wages are set by the National Pay and Wages Commission and may not be disputed. In the private sector, wages are set by industry, and collective bargaining rarely occurs due to high unemployment and workers’ concerns over job security. The legal workweek is 48 hours, with one day off mandated. This law is rarely enforced, especially in the garment industry. Children under the age of 14 are prohibited by law to work in factories but may work (under restricted hours) in other industries. However, such restrictions are rarely enforced and children work in every sector of the economy. In 2002, the government estimated that 6.6 million children between the ages of five and 14 years were engaged in all types of employment activities, many that were harmful to their well-being.
Bangladesh has an agrarian economy with 32% of GDP coming from the Agriculture Sector. In recent years, the country is doing much better in some sectors, but the proper balance is required for achieving positive goals. Bangladesh has recently achieved significant growth of GDP. But, the problem also remains that the growth rate of GDP is dominated by agriculture while manufacturing is weak. Lack of democratic practice and corruption works as obstacles to achieving government targets. If the government is not successful in creating a favorable investment climate and investment does not match the savings rate, then the ability to achieve the targeted level of GDP growth will remain in doubt. To attract investment, the government should readjust the rate of interest and should create a political atmosphere that will be favorable for domestic as well as foreign investment. Policies that promote remittances would also be helpful to stabilize economy. With high population growth continuing to expand the economically active population and the simultaneous employment cuts in privatized industries, the labour market situation in Bangladesh is fragile. Relatively high rates of inflation combined with high levels of unemployment may lower real wages. To overcome these problems, the government should create job opportunities and should take initiatives to run industries. Within the policy of privatization, the government may take measures towards creating jobs and managing industries. Since the world economy is volatile, Bangladesh faces both risks and opportunities. Unless we can devise far-sighted strategies, we risk remaining marginalized in the increasing global flow of commodities, capital, information and technology.
More links realated to this topic
Comments
Got something to say?
You must be logged in to post a comment.