Employment in Bangladesh’s readymade garment (RMG) sector witnessed only 1.07 per cent annual growth from 2015 to 2020, according to a study by the Asian Centre for Development (ACD), which estimated that the total number of workers employed in the RMG sector increased to 4.22 mn (1.72 mn male and 2.50 mn female) in 2020 from 4 mn in 2015.
The study, titled ‘Socio-economic Profile of Garment Workers of Bangladesh’, found that in 2015, the total number of male workers in the RMG sector was 1.10 mn while female workers were 2.59 mn. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and ACD jointly published the study.
‘Despite the fact that many factories were closed down in the aftermath of the Rana Plaza accident, our estimate shows an increase in the number of workers per factory and factories are about 70 per cent larger than that of 2014,’ the study said.
Between 2015 and 2020, the growth rate was 4 per cent for male workers and minus 0.7 per cent for female workers. The ACD survey showed that in 2014, monthly family expenditure of RMG workers was around Tk 11,320 and the expenditure increased by 7 per cent a year between 2014 to 2020 while income also increased by 7 per cent in the period. Although the income of workers increased 7 per cent against the 7 per cent increase in expenditure, the study claimed that the monthly savings of the workers rose by 8 per cent during the period.
The report said the average age of workers of RMG sector in Bangladesh is 25.9 years and the average length of service is 9.2 years. There are around 2,200 foreign professionals in nearly 15 per cent of the RMG factories in the country. Most of them are engaged in management positions, followed by technical operations and merchandising.
