Categories
Issues in the Labour Market

The Informal Sector: Considering Productivity

Accounting for Low Productivity in the Informal Sector

At six o’clock in the morning Mariam, now 18 years old, wakes up and gets ready for the day. She works at a garments factory just outside Dhaka city. As she brushes her hair, she remembers her work as a maid. She was just a child. She cooked, cleaned and took care of the kids when their parents weren’t around. Maryam has bad memories of those times. She always felt the family were unhappy with her work. But she didn’t know why. Sometimes they were happy and would give her gifts of clothes and sometimes money.  When she they were unhappy…well, those really were painful memories.

That’s all behind her now. But work in the factory isn’t easy, either.

Categories
What the papers say

Low Wage Trap

A weekly round up of articles about employment, the labor market, skills training and workforce development. This week’s round up is drawn from The Daily Star. Here is the news for the week ending 17th November 2016.

This week in the Bangladesh English Press…

…Malaysia revives recruitment of Bangladeshi workers. Expert examines the challenges of production costs, wages, and long work hours in Bangladesh’s garments factories. And Bangladesh once again ranks lowly on the latest competitiveness report.

Categories
What the papers say

Skills for Export

A weekly round up of articles about employment, the labour market, skills training and workforce development. Here is the news for the week ending 24th September 2015.

This week in the Bangladesh English Press…

…The Asian Development Bank is upbeat about Bangladesh’s economic growth. A delegation from the Office of the Unite States Trade Representative visits Dhaka and Chittagong. And the Government’s role in the development and export of skilled people is discussed.