Trade union leaders and labour rights activists on Monday urged the government to ensure labour rights and protection for informal sector workers, who make up the majority of Bangladesh鈥檚 workforce but remain outside the scope of the labour law.
They said that informal workers, lacking legal recognition, written contracts, or income security, were more vulnerable to exploitation and lived in precarious conditions.
The call came at a discussion organised by non-government organisation Karmojibi Nari at The Daily Star Centre in Dhaka, where findings of a study titled 鈥楳apping of Informal Sector Workers in Bangladesh: Challenges, Opportunities and Policy Implications鈥� were shared.
The study, conducted with support from Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, surveyed 768 informal workers across the country between September and November 2024. It identified about 450 different occupations in the informal economy, where workers often toil up to 12 hours a day without any formal protection.
According to the findings, 69 per cent of workers were aged between 25 and 44, with the largest share 鈥� 7.7 per cent 鈥� working as street vendors.
Labour Reform Commission chairman and Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies executive director Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed urged the government to build a national data hub on informal workers and bring them under social protection.
鈥楢nnouncement of a national minimum wage can be one initiative to ensure better wages,鈥� he said.
Samajtantrik Sramik Front president Razekuzzaman Ratan said informal sector workers faced greater exploitation than formal workers due to their vulnerability.
Jagannath University associate professor of social work Mostafiz Ahmed observed that child labour was likely higher in the informal sector, yet no dispute resolution mechanism existed there.
ILO Formalisation project coordinator Ruman Ishtiak said formalising payment systems could offer workers protection and recognition.
Jatiya Sramik Jote Bangladesh president Saifuzzaman Badsha stressed that rights and protection could not be ensured without legal recognition of informal workers.
Speakers pointed out that over 85 per cent of Bangladesh鈥檚 total workforce was engaged in the informal economy, yet the government had no comprehensive protection measures for them.
Julia Jesmin, joint inspector general of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments, acknowledged that the current labour law did not cover informal workers.
Other trade union leaders, rights activists, and government officials also spoke at the event.
