Women account for 55pc of garment workers

There are over 5.0 million workers employed in the garment factories in the country, with women constituting 55.57 per cent of the workforce, state minister for labour and employment Nazrul Islam Chowdhury told parliament on Sunday.

He came up with the figures while responding to a tabled question of ruling Awami League MP Nurunnabi Chowdhury elected from Bhola-3, reports UNB.

According to the information of BGMEA, there are 3,317,397 workers employed in the garment factories. Among them, 52.28 per cent or 1.734 million are women workers, said the state minister.

According to BKMEA data, there are 1.7 million workers in the knit sector. Of which 62 per cent or 10,54,157 are women workers.

In total, there are 5,017,652 workers in the garment industry of the country. Of which, 55.57 per cent or 2,788,616 are women workers, the state minister said.

Citing data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the state minister said that according to the 2022 labour force survey, the total workforce in the garment sector is 4,316,000. Of them, 37.51 per cent or 1,619,000 are women workers.