Present Status of Garment workers in Bangladesh: An analysis

Abstract

Garments sector is the life blood of Bangladesh as the agricultural land has there been turned to a country of garments industries. Employment in the Ready-made garment sector in Bangladesh provides workers with economic benefits and some empowerment. More than 3.2 millions people are working in this sector and about 5000 garments factories are scattered across the country. 78 per cent of our foreign earnings come from this sector. So it will not be an overstatement to say that, we earn our bread from garments industries. The study attempts to explore the present socio-economic status of the garments workers. The study based mainly on economic and social status of 100 garments workers from Rampura and Badda areas of Dhaka City. It was found that the socio-economic condition of the Garments workers is not in a lofty stage. Amongst the workers about 70 per cent are women, who work dawn to dusk even up to late night when their wages are not in the satisfactory level. They cannot afford their foods, cloths, housing, medicines, and educations of their wards as they are ill paid. On the contrary, their children are deprived from their care; they suffer from malnutrition and unhygienic complexities. They have no time or scope for recreation. During the study it was found that, worldwide economic meltdown has affected RMG sector of Bangladesh as some workers have lost their jobs and trend of works have been declined. At the end of the study, some recommendations were placed to improve the present conditions of the garments workers as well as garments sector of the country.