Socio-cultural equity for informal sector
Photo: STAR
In Bangladesh, the largest employment sector is agriculture, which accounts for about 48% of the total labour force (aged 15 years and above) of 49.5 million.
The informal sector is an important addition to development economy, especially in Third World countries like Bangladesh. The International Labour Organization (ILO) identified the following characteristics of informal sectors:
* Ease of entry;
* Lack of formal educational qualification;
* Low wages;
* Forced overtime;
* Denial of basic rights;
* Little job security;
* Short-term work contract;
* Very little capital;
* Family ownership of enterprises;
* Enterprises distribute products directly to consumers;
* No fixed hours of operation.
According to the ILO definition: "The informal sector consists of small- scale, self-employed activities typically at a low level of organisation and technology, with the primary objective of generating employment and income. The activities are usually conducted without proper recognition from the authorities and escape the attention of the administrative machinery responsible for enforcing laws and regulations."
The ILO introduced the concept of the informal sector more than 25 years ago. When the formal sector does not provide enough job opportunities, rural migrant and urban dwellers alike find employment in micro-level production and distribution of goods and services. These largely unorganised, unrecorded and unregulated small-scale activities constitute the informal sector.
Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries of the world.
The rate of population increase is 2.4% per year, which aggravates the already scanty man-land ratio.
Since the economy is mainly agricultural, with 85% people living in rural areas and more than 60% of the labour force employed in agricultural activities, the most distressing situation is the increasing landlessness (about 60% of the households are landless or near landless).
Reasons for entering informal sector
The family environment influences women participation in the informal labour market:
* Meager income of the households influences women to work as paid labour in the informal sectors;
* Landless rural women work with male workers in agriculture to increase their family income;
* Women in paid sector are engaged in construction, brickfield work or brick-breaking.
Working conditions
There is a tremendous need of employment for the rural poor, who migrate to urban areas for livelihood. They are engaged in the informal sector without formal appointment. As a result, they face problems because employers tend to retrench workers if they find any claim against them.
Workers in the agriculture sector are paid a very low wage, usually Tk.200 per day. Women get half of what males get, which is not enough to meet their daily needs.
This sector never follows the labour code. Most of the workers of the informal sector are obliged to work more than 8 hours a day. Sometimes they have to work late hours, but never get any remuneration for excess work. If workers are not able to complete their duty, their wages are deducted.
Recognition as labour
Labour recognition is the prime issue of the informal sector workers. They want identity card in order to prove that they are workers. Workers in the informal sector aspire for decent and secure lives, increased income and access to basic social services. The persistence and expansion of informal employment pose both a challenge and an opportunity to the local, national and international labour markets.
In order to recognise workers as labourers, the government should provide them with identity cards, both to the paid and the self-employed workers in the informal sector.
Informal sector workers have to face numerous occupational problems, which need to be solved so that their rights can be established. A more intensive and pragmatic policy should be adopted for the development of workers, particularly for women workers working in the informal sector.
The minimum daily wage should fixed so that a labourer can meet the minimum needs of his/her family for 7 days with the income of 6 days. Equal wages for male and female labourers must be insured to remove the long-standing discrimination against women.
In 1984, an ordinance named "The Agricultural Labour (Minimum Wage) Ordinance was formulated for agricultural labourers, but has not been put in practice due to lack of necessary rules and government initiative.
The writer is a Member, Gender Trainers Core Group.
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