The absence of a national minimum wage forces a huge number of employees and workers in many formal and informal sectors in the country to remain highly low paid, widening income inequality.
Such low-paid employees and workers are bearing the brunt of high inflation prevailing in the country, said economists and labour leaders on the eve of May Day which is being observed today across the world to uphold the spirit of fair pay.
Economists and labour leaders said that many employers were exploiting employees and workers as successive governments had failed to introduce a national minimum wage in the country.
Workers and employees are continued to be appointed in many establishments like private schools, colleges, universities and business entities, readymade garment factories and pharmaceutical companies at a very low pay.
Besides, household workers, agricultural labourers, salespersons in shops and trade centres, who comprise the major portion of the informal sector workforce are not getting decent pay, contributing to wage discrimination and deprivation.
According to a report, the country has no legal framework for setting minimum wages for more than 85 per cent of workers and employees across various sectors.
According to the Bangladesh Kindergarten Association, over 6,00,000 teachers, mostly female, provide teaching in some 42,000 kindergartens across the county at the minimum monthly payment of Tk聽3,000 and the maximum Tk聽15,000.
The majority of the teachers who are appointed on a part-time basis receive monthly salary of Tk聽3,000 to Tk聽5,000, said the association鈥檚 secretary general, Mizanur Rahman.
鈥楪etting fair pay from companies which are not transparent and non-complaint is difficult,鈥� said Mustafa K Mujeri, executive director of the Institute for Inclusive Finance and Development.
He observed that low payments and tendency of maximising profits by employers were among the reasons for widening income inequality.
Income inequality stood at Gini coefficient of 0.4999 in 2022, up from 0.482 in 2016 and 0.458 in 2010, with a smaller Gini coefficient signifying a less unequal distribution of the national wealth.
According to a report released in February by the task force on re-strategising the economy and mobilising resources for equitable and sustainable development, a significant percentage of graduates remain unemployed while some of these graduates find low-paying positions, such as teaching in primary schools or kindergartens, many continue to be unemployed for three to four years before ultimately losing hope of securing formal employment.
Every year over 2.5 million youths, including 7,00,000 graduates from 54 public universities, 110 private universities, 2,257 colleges under the National University and more than 1,500 privately managed colleges enter the job market.
One-third of them have been absorbed mainly by the private sector, but most them are paid through negotiation, almost similar to that the gig economy that refers to a workforce of people who engage in short-term, freelance and side-employment contracts.
For the past one year, Aabir Hossain has been working at a firm giving information technology services to a number of commercial banks.
He said that after graduating from a local private university, he joined the firm at the salary of about Tk聽20,000. Aabir said that although he knew that he was low paid, he had no option but to continue the job considering the job market situation.
Private University Teachers Association Bangladesh president Hanif Khan said that the management of the private universities was showing more interest to part-time teachers to check operational costs.
The University Grant Commission, regulatory authority of the county鈥檚 public and private universities, in its annual report in 2022 said that the number of part-time teachers in the private universities increased to 4,005 in 2022 from 3,311 in 2021.
The number of full-time teachers dropped to 12,013 in 2022 from 12,082 in 2021.
In its report, the UGC said that the trend in the appointment of full-time teachers was negative and unsatisfactory.
Former World Bank Dhaka office chief economist Zahid Hussain said that the UGS should be proactive to look after the payment issue of part-time teachers for ensuring quality of education.
He observed that the deprivation of workers and employees regarding payment had been growing with the expansion of the economy over the decades in the absence of effective measures to prevent the malpractice.
Since 2004, the Minimum Wage Board under the Ministry of Labour and Employment has identified 42 sectors and brought them under a minimum wage rule.
But wages for most of the sector have not been updated in every five years as per rule, said Rajekujjaman Ratan, president of the Samajtantrik Labour Front.
Earlier in 2001, the government announced a monthly national minimum wage for small and medium industries at Tk聽1,200 and for big industries at Tk聽1,350.
However, the announcement was not translated into action due to the opposition from industry owners.
Besides, the High Court stayed the government decision on the grounds of procedural deficiencies to determine a national minimum wage following a writ challenging the validity of the national minimum wage.
Rajekujjaman Ratan, also a member of the Labour Reform Commission formed by the interim government, said that successive governments failed to ensure the welfare of the employees and workers due to the influence of profit-mongering employers.
Maximum profiteering is the main aim of the owners, he said.
On April 21, the Labour Reform Commission submitted its report to the interim government, recommending the establishment of a 鈥榩ermanent minimum wage commission鈥� to determine a national minimum wage for workers across all sectors irrespective of government, non-government and private.
It also recommended the determination of separate minimum wages, not less than the national standard, on the basis of the nature of work, level of occupational risks, sector, and the region the worker is employed in.
Bangladesh Garment Sramik Samhati president Taslima Akhter, also a member the Labour Reform Commission, expected that the interim government would be able to start making reforms as per the commission鈥檚 recommendations.
But a full implementation of the report would require continuous pressure on the next elected government and the employers, said the labour leader.
