Bangladesh celebrates its labour gains, yet millions remain uncounted, unprotected, and unheard.
As we mark Labour Day on 1 May, Bangladesh looks back on its achievements, particularly in the ready-made garments (RMG) industry, which has four million workers, predominantly women, and accounts for 84% of the nation’s exports. Decades of reform and international pressure have improved factories and raised wages, such as a 56.25% increase in 2023 and a 9% increase in 2024.
But, beyond the spotlight of RMG, there are millions of farm and construction labourers and informal economy workers who still endure low pay, dangerous work, and weak legal protection. Labour Day means little to celebrate for them. As we rejoice in the success of the nation in industry, there lingers a question: “Has one industry’s success blinded us to the woes of the others?”
THE COST OF THE RMG MIRACLE
The RMG sector has long fuelled Bangladesh’s economy, expanding from close to zero to almost USD 47 billion worth of exports over the course of four decades. It has removed millions from poverty and substantially increased women’s employment. International pressure and domestic reform since the 2013 collapse of Rana Plaza have prompted factory safety and wage improvements. In 2023, the minimum wage was increased by 48% to BDT 12,500, with a subsequent 9% hike in 2024. However, concerns remain. Most employees are still earning less than a living wage, and many report lost overtime pay or broken contracts. Real wage gains have tumbled to only 4.4% per annum in the latest years, well below the 14% of the past decade, hardly keeping pace with inflation.
Legal recourse is equally slow. More than 21,000 labour cases were still pending as of early 2025, more than half beyond the legal timeline. The Rana Plaza trials, one involving 38 suspects in a case of murder, are still stuck after more than a decade, with just one of four cases decided to date. Labour rights remain under tension. Bangladesh remains one of the worst places in the world to be employed, and attempts at unionising, especially within special economic zones, are routinely undermined or repressed. Though RMG has undoubtedly propelled growth, its cheap labour and weak protections continue unabated. Unless more stringent standards are put in place, even this model industry can fail to meet global expectations.
THE FORGOTTEN SECTORS
These sectors employ the majority of the country’s remaining wage-earning and physical labour force outside the RMG and formal industrial sectors, yet they remain largely overshadowed by the progress and visibility of RMG. As a result, labour-related gains in RMG are often mistakenly assumed to reflect broader improvements across all sectors.
Agriculture
Agriculture employs half of Bangladesh’s labour force, yet rural workers remain among the poorest. Women, who do most of the farm work, receive about BDT 300 a day, far less than the BDT 450 men are usually paid to perform the same work. The majority work without contracts or protections, subsisting on insecure daily wages. Thus, in 2024, when heavy flooding submerged rice paddies in the east, cutting national production estimates by 2.4%, farmers were left deep in debt and hungry, having no safety nets to fall into.
Government investment is still limited. The budget for 2024–25 allocated BDT 38,259 crore for agriculture and food security, the same percentage of 4.8% of the total budget, and followed a trend of underinvestment. Subsidies decreased somewhat, despite increased production costs. Despite their important role, agricultural workers earn meagre wages and face higher climate risks and no state protection, making them the exception to the greater narrative of workers’ progress.
FACTORY WORKERS IN THE NON-RMG SECTOR, WHILE CONTRIBUTING TO THE ECONOMY, POSSESS MANY OF THE SAME VULNERABILITIES – LONG WORKING HOURS, LEGAL ABSENCE, AND IRREGULAR TERMS – THAT AFFLICT BANGLADESH’S OVERALL LABOUR PROBLEMS.
Non-RMG Manufacturing
Outside the RMG sector, Bangladesh’s industrial workforce – pharmaceuticals, steel, fertiliser, leather, and light engineering – receives little notice. They employ millions but offer deplorable conditions, meagre wages, and little employment security.
In late 2024, a 20-factory pharmaceutical industry strike in Gazipur shed light on demands for contracts and fair wages. Most other factories operate under a daily hiring system for low-paid workers with no benefits.
In shipbreaking workshops, employees earn as little as BDT 615 per day with severe safety risks. Irregular payment and non-payment of overtime have also been reported in small electronics and shoe units. Much of this employment is off the books and outside regulation.
Factory workers in the non-RMG sector, while contributing to the economy, possess many of the same vulnerabilities – long working hours, legal absence, and irregular terms – that afflict Bangladesh’s overall labour problems.
Construction
Construction is one of the fastest-growing industries in Bangladesh, but is still highly informal. According to the 2023 Labour Survey, approximately 5.4% of the construction workforce is occupied by men, with women occupying only 0.3%. The majority of workers are informal labourers without contracts or benefits and are paid in daily wages.
Workplace safety remains an issue. At least 91 construction workers were killed on the job in 2024 alone, as reported by the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS). Low pay persists despite risk, typically garment industry wages, while work in masonry, bricklaying, and carpentry grows ever more scarce due to mechanisation.
Social protection for these workforces is scarce. Most urban construction workers lack coverage by targeted welfare programs due to informal employment and bureaucratic barriers like the need for a permanent residence. With little legal protection and no employment security, many face economic exposure and daily risks without remedy.
DOMESTIC WORKERS, ESTIMATED AT APPROXIMATELY TWO MILLION, ARE STILL EXEMPT FROM THE 2006 LABOUR ACT AND HAVE NO GUARANTEED WAGES, WORKING HOURS, OR PROTECTIONS. HOME-BASED AND CASUAL WAGE WORKERS, INCLUDING GARMENT HOMEWORKERS AND BRICK KILN WORKERS, ARE EXEMPTED EQUALLY.
Informal and Service Sectors
The informal and service sectors constitute the largest segment of the Bangladesh economy, where around 84% of workers are employed, according to the Labour Force Survey 2023. Domestic workers, rickshaw pullers, street vendors, transport workers, shopkeepers, and other unorganised workers fall under this category.
Even though they are many, they are invisible in mainstream labour policy. Domestic workers, estimated at approximately two million, are still exempt from the 2006 Labour Act and have no guaranteed wages, working hours, or protections. Home-based and casual wage workers, including garment homeworkers and brick kiln workers, are exempted equally.
Irregular day labourers usually have recourse to haphazard, casual work like loading cars or transporting passengers. Remuneration is usually insecure and per job or kilogram, not per hour. Being absent from one working day may mean missing a meal or paying rent.
With no pensions, health care, or unemployment insurance, nearly 60 million informal sector workers exist in a state of chronic insecurity. With rising inflation and living costs, their earnings are quickly undercut, leaving them trapped in survival mode without consideration or protection.
THE PROBLEM OF DATA BLINDNESS
One of the greatest obstacles to inclusive labour reform in Bangladesh is a lack of data. While nearly 84% of the workforce, around 60 million workers, is informal, data remains focused on urban, formal employment. Basics such as the number of workers in specific sectors, their gender, age, or cause of injury or death on the job, are often missing. This lack of information impedes the capacity to develop policies that protect all workers. While some reforms have been brought in to comply with International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions, they often target formal sectors and unionised labour. Informal workers like domestic workers, delivery riders, or home-based producers are predominantly excluded from legal protection in most instances.
There is limited systematic research available on the extent and conditions of informal work. Some categories, including live-in domestic workers, fall outside the Labour Act entirely. With no central labour registry and weak enforcement powers, the state has no insight into the conditions in which most people are working.
So long as this knowledge gap is present, policymaking will be blind to the needs of the majority, excluding millions from being counted, protected, and listened to.
WHILE NEARLY 84% OF THE WORKFORCE, AROUND 60 MILLION WORKERS, IS INFORMAL, DATA REMAINS FOCUSED ON URBAN, FORMAL EMPLOYMENT. BASICS SUCH AS THE NUMBER OF WORKERS IN SPECIFIC SECTORS, THEIR GENDER, AGE, OR CAUSE OF INJURY OR DEATH ON THE JOB, ARE OFTEN MISSING.
THE RISKS OF COMPLACENCY
Bangladesh has made significant strides in poverty alleviation, but ignoring the suffering of non-garment workers may stifle the trend. The World Bank warns that the national poverty rate may rise to 22.9% by the year 2025, from 18.7% in 2022, if current trends continue.
Growing inequality and flat rural wages already are stifling more general growth. With the economy so reliant on low-cost garment exports, Bangladesh remains vulnerable to international demand shocks. Sporadic strikes elsewhere signal growing discontent among low-paid and uncovered workers.
Unless the nation undergoes wider reforms, it is at risk of a divided economy – a cosmopolitan, export-orientated elite in one corner and an overlooked, struggling majority in the other.
To ensure growth is inclusive, Bangladesh must extend labour protections from the RMG sector to fields, construction sites, street stalls, and homes. That means enforcing fair wages, expanding social protections, and ensuring all workers, not just factory workers, are legally covered.
By counting all workers, protecting all livelihoods, and closing the data gap, Bangladesh can ensure an economic future that is both fair and resilient.
