Two official agencies quote widely varied figures

A big gap has surfaced in the findings of separate surveys conducted by two state agencies on the apparel sector, raising a question over the actual number of workers engaged in the country's largest export-oriented industry.   
After carrying out a survey following the tragic Tazreen fire incident, the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) recently released a database showing the number of garment workers at only 2.13 million.
A diametrically different figure came in the finding by Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies' (BIDS) that put the strength of garment-sector workforce at around 4.0 million.
On the other hand, the two apex trade bodies in the apparel industry --BGMEA and BKMEA -- often claim that the country's apparel sector is employing about 4.0 million workers, 80 per cent of them women.
Sources said there are no accurate data either with Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, or the BGMEA or BKMEA.
The stakeholders often use the number of workers in realizing their demands from the government on different occasions, especially the budgetary ones, they added.
The Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE), immediately after the Tazreen and Smart Garment fires, took a move to conduct a comprehensive study on the country's apparel industry to determine the number of garment factories on area basis, total workers and their problems and possible solutions to these issues.
The ministry gave the task to BIDS that submitted its report early this year. The government is yet to formally announce the BIDS findings mainly due to the wide gap in workers' numbers, ministry sources said.
Even, the government is in a dilemma as to what to do with the figures, they added.
"Our inspection teams have found 3,498 factories across the country that produce apparel products and employ about 2.13 million workers," Syed Ahmed, Inspector-General of DIFE, told the FE recently.
The factories and their workers in the eight export-processing zones are not included in the database, he added.
According to the database, the number of female workers is 12,23,568 while the rest are male workers.
Some 847,283 workers are employed in 1592 factories in Dhaka, 806,585 in 904 units in Gazipur, 529 units located in Narayanganj accommodate some 215,734 workers and 231,511 are working in 471 factories in the port city.
Each three factories located in Comilla, Narsingdi and Manikganj created employment for some 960, 910 and 6787 workers respectively.
A total of 16,770 workers are employed in 34 factories in Mymensingh and six units in Tangail employed some 3614 workers, according to the DIFE database.
"There might be some errors but it is not more than 1.0 per cent," Mr Ahmed said.
There are 265 factories, including woven, knit, accessories and textiles, in the country's eight EPZs that employ some 304,773 workers, according to BEPZA sources.
Asked about this matter, Labour Secretary Mikail Shipar said the ministry is scrutinizing the issue and they are reexamining the numbers of factories and workers.
He also admitted there is a huge gap between the numbers of workers found by the DIFE and the BIDS.
BIDS has conducted the study following random sampling procedure, taking factory lists from BGMEA and BKMEA, Mr Shipar said. They did not make door-to-door visit.
When communicated, Md Shahidullah Azim, vice-president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said the DIFE database does not reflect the real picture.
The clothing sector employs about 4.0 million workers, he claimed.