Min wage estimated Tk19,200 for Dhaka RMG workers

South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM) has estimated the living wage range for the ready-made garment (RMG) workers living in Dhaka between Tk 19,200 and Tk 22,900.

The nonprofit research organisation made this estimation as part of a research project titled “Garment Worker Diaries (GWD),” according to a press release issued on Sunday.

SANEM, in collaboration with USA-based nonprofit organisation, Microfinance Opportunities (MFO), is conducting the research project on the quality of life of RMG workers in Bangladesh.

Around 1,300 selected garment workers — employed in factories located in Dhaka city, Chattogram, Gazipur, Narayanganj, and Savar — have been surveyed every week since April 2020 under the project. Three-quarters of the survey respondents are women.

Using an adjusted version of the Anker Methodology, the living wage range was estimated to be Tk 21,300 to Tk 26,000 in Chattogram, and Tk 19,200 to Tk 22,900 in Gazipur, Narayanganj, and Savar.

The median earnings reported by workers in the second quarter (April-June) of 2022 for working a regular work month (without accounting for overtime) were Tk 9,984 (Tk 9,669 for women and Tk 10,928 for men), resulting in a wage gap between 51 per cent and 60 per cent for women workers, and 45 per cent and 54 per cent for male workers, read the release.

Depending on the area and the living wage benchmark used, the current wage gap is anywhere from Tk 9,408 (49 per cent) to Tk 15,616 (60 per cent) per month for women and Tk 7,947 (41 per cent) to Tk 14,400 (55 per cent) for men.

To make up for this gap, workers increasingly rely on overtime and excess hours (work hours that go beyond the legal limit) to make ends meet.

To calculate the cost of a basic but decent life, the GWD used expenses related to food, housing, other essential needs, and a small margin for unforeseen events.

The methodology calculates this for an average household in Bangladesh, a household of four, over the average number of adult earners in a household, which in Bangladesh is 1.58.