Bangladesh has been burning for several months. The fire of violence spread so much that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had to resign. That’s not all it took. The situation had become so bad that he had to leave the country after resigning.
But what was the reason for this? In fact, the income of Bangladeshis is not enough to live a good life. This anger further erupted due to the quota system in the government system. There was a 30% quota for freedom fighters and their children in government jobs. This added fuel to the fire, because the people had been struggling with unemployment and low minimum wages for many years.
Barring some countries like Burundi and Rwanda, workers in Bangladesh get the lowest wages.
According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), while the average minimum wage across 110 countries was $719 in 2022, the minimum wage in Bangladesh was only $45.
After China and the European Union, Bangladesh is the largest supplier of clothes in the world. Most of the garment industry of Bangladesh is in and around the capital Dhaka.
A 2023 report by Anchor Research Institute shows that in 2016, the average income of a family in Dhaka was 16,450 taka, while the family needed 25,990 taka to meet its expenses. Earnings increased to 25,462 taka (approximately Rs 18,200) in 2023, but family expenses also increased to 40,228 taka (approximately Rs 28,800). This means that Bangladeshis earn 37% less than what is needed to meet basic needs. The situation is similar in the cities around Dhaka.
Last year, 16 companies like Adidas, Puma, Gap and Levi Strauss had written a letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on October 11, 2023 regarding the minimum wage. In this, the companies had written that there is a need to take the minimum wage to a level which can meet the basic needs of the people as well as handle the burden of inflation.
Last year, workers working in the garment industry had demanded to increase the minimum wage from 8 thousand taka (Rs 5,700) to 23 thousand taka (Rs 16,400). According to the Fair Labor Association, the minimum wage in Bangladesh since 2018 is only 8 thousand taka. According to the World Bank definition, this salary brings a family of three below the poverty line.
However, despite this, the government had proposed to increase the minimum wage to 10,400 taka (Rs 7,400). Which was not even half of the workers’ demand. For this reason, protests took place across the country in October-November last year.
Due to the protests, the government had increased the minimum wage of workers working in the garment industry to Taka 12,500 (about Rs 8,900) in December 2023. This wage is nothing compared to meeting the daily expenses.
Low salaries are not only a problem, but the common people there are also troubled by the skyrocketing inflation. The inflation rate in 2021 was 5.5%, which will increase to 7.7% in 2022 and again to 9.9% in 2023.
These problems increased further due to lack of jobs. The unemployment rate in Bangladesh has been hovering above 15% since 2020.