A day of day labourers

At Jatrabari Crossing in the capital yesterday, a group of day-labourers wait for employers to come and hire them for work at any construction site.Photo: Amran Hossain

Though it was before noon, yet Abdus Samad was in waiting at the city's Jatrabari Crossing along with his colleagues hunting jobs for the day at any construction site.
Such a view of the gathering of day labourers is almost a regular phenomenon in the city life. People like Samad wait there for long, someone arrives and hire anyone on daily basis for any individual construction bid, or for the construction industry.
However, Samad missed the peak hour because such construction workers start gathering at this particular place since 6-30AM. Until 11AM, the time Samad reached Jatrabari Crossing, many of the workers have already been employed. But, lady luck did not smile for some who were sitting there idly with their equipment, such as spade, basket, hammer, 'belcha' etc.
The city's major markets where you will find such day-labourers include Malibagh Rail Crossing, Khilgaon, Doyaganj, Shanir Akhra, Mohammadpur Bus Stand, Jhigatola Crossing, Badda Crossing and Nayabazar.
When asked, Ismail Hossain, a day-labourer at the city's Malibagh area, said presently he faces hardship as the construction industry is not in that position it enjoyed not so many years back. He said no one now comes to them to hire, but previously he was employed by a contractor during the full tenure of a project.
“Since I am not a permanent resident of the city, I will go back to my village when the peak season of Aman cultivation starts next month,” Ismail said..
So is the experience of many. They hunt for jobs, but the demand for them is on the wane
According to the industry insiders, nowadays the construction sector is passing through a dull season due to a significant rise in the prices of construction materials. Some say the recent drive against corruption has resulted in the situation the industry is now facing.
Moreover, the government's slow implementation of Annual Development Programmes (ADP) is also responsible for the rising rate of unemployment in the construction sector.
Yet, the influx of day-labourers to the capital continues, for works are scarce in rural areas. According to Samad, a skilled worker gets Tk 350 a day if he is employed.
The semi-skilled and unskilled workers get lesser than the wages offered to the skilled ones. Sometimes they pass off very bad days with no job in hand for even five consecutive days. But they cannot switch over to other jobs because the illiterate and unskilled have a little scope. Most of the construction workers are 20 to 45 years old.
According to the latest labour force survey of 2005-06, the total number of workers in the construction sector was 1.5 million, 1.4 million males and 0.1 million females.
This survey shows that the total number of economically active labour force in the country is 49.5 million, 37.4 million of which are male and 12.1 million female.
It also shows that 11.7 million workers are employed in urban areas and 37.8 million in rural areas.
However, the trade body of the developers figures out the construction workers--both temporary and permanentat 20 million
On the present less demand for construction workers, Tanveerul Haque Probal, president of the Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB), said, “Definitely the works in the construction sector slowed down significantly due to the onset of rainy season and higher prices of construction materials.”
He foresees yet another blow to the industry on the government's imminent promulgation of a complicated ordinance.
According to official sources, the Ministry of Housing and Public Works has already prepared a draft of the proposed ordinance to be approved by the President soon with a view to bringing transparency in sales of flats and plots.
Talking to The Daily Star noted economist Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad agreed that the construction works have declined considerably in recent time mainly due to price hike of mild steel (MS) rod and other raw materials.
“Even many capable persons are not going to construct new projects due to the price hike of construction materials and the fear of disclosing money,” he said.
As a result, the rate of unemployment is increasing particularly in the construction sector and at present the rate of extreme poverty would be 30 percent, which was 20 percent even in the 2005-06 fiscal.
In this context he also pointed to the fact that more people are now migrating to Dhaka in search of jobs from the areas affected by 'monga' (famine like situation), cyclone Sidr and river erosion.
Kholiquzzaman suggested that the government should launch some projects for these migrated people to remove poverty.

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