The informal economy remains the backbone of Bangladesh’s labour market, employing millions across diverse sectors -- from tailoring and textiles to petrol pumps and type foundries and, most importantly, domestic work. However, the latest findings from the Labour Reform Commission paint a grim picture of Bangladesh’s wage landscape, with 22 out of 39 reviewed sectors still paying workers wages which fall squarely below the poverty line.
Indeed, the informal economy, which employs a significant portion of Bangladesh’s labour force, continues to operate in something of a regulatory vacuum. Workers in tailoring shops, petrol pumps, and even in the home are found working long hours for days without earning enough to meet basic nutritional needs.
Clearly these are not isolated cases but the result of systemic failures which have resulted in abject neglect towards the overwhelming majority of our population. It would not be unfair to state that the ostensible disparity between formal and informal sectors has created a hierarchical division in our overall labour landscape, where some workers are protected by wage boards and others are left to fend for themselves.
Clearly the status quo needs to change.
To that end, the Labour Reform Commission’s suggestion of a national wage minimum wage must be considered carefully. A unified wage floor applicable across all sectors would eliminate the arbitrary under-valuation of labour and ensure that no worker is paid below the level of subsistence. Indeed, a further case can be made for revising wages every few years to account for inflation and cost of living.
However, what is paramount is the formal recognition of workers in the informal economy as, without legal recognition, these workers remain invisible to policy and vulnerable to exploitation. This is a disturbingly common phenomenon in Bangladesh, especially when it comes to domestic workers.
Bangladesh’s economic ambitions cannot be built on the backs of underpaid and overworked labour -- industries which continue to pay below-poverty wages must be held to the same standards as those in the formal economy. Given just how vital informal sectors is to our nation’s overall economic landscape, this is now imperative.