Trade unions represent 4pc of country's labour force

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FE Report
Trade unions represent only 4.0 per cent of the country's total labour force of 47.4 million, said a Bangladesh Bank report.
Although labour unions are often considered as a major source of labour market rigidities, they represent a small and diminishing share of the country's labour force, it said.
"Trade unions now represent only about 4.0 per cent of the country's total labor force," the BB said.
The BB report said: "In general, the labour unions represent production workers belonging to semi-skilled and unskilled categories. Thus labour unions are not an important source of labour market rigidities in Bangladesh."
Similarly, it said, minimum wages exert little influence on wage setting.
"So, appropriate strategies for employment promotion in Bangladesh require measures to expand decent employment through comprehensive employment targeted economic programmes, including measures to raise labour productivity, broaden credit availability, especially to employment intensive sectors, and enhance access to economic and social infrastructure."
The labour force in Bangladesh has expanded rapidly over the last two decades. The total labour force was 47.4 million in 2006 compared with 36.1 million in 1996.
The central bank pointed out that few union workers seemed to enjoy wage premiums since the 'elite and senior workers' who enjoyed high premiums based on education and skill usually remain outside the labour unions.
The central bank observed that labour unions were not an important source of labor market rigidities and the minimum wages exert little influence on wage setting.
The BB said the developments in the labor market are crucial to bringing about desirable changes in growth possibilities and meeting poverty reduction and other social goals in a 'labour-surplus' economy.
In particular, the expansion of decent employment opportunities through both wage and self-employment to absorb the growing labour force is a key challenge for the country.
The BB said social dialogue in an integrated manner to address the challenge to ensure both rapid growth of productivity-enhancing employment and fulfill the poverty-reducing labour rights.