Impact of the global economic crisis on the employment and labour market of Bangladesh

This study by the Centre for Policy Dialogue examines the impact of the ongoing global financial crisis on the economy and other social dimensions of Bangladesh. It also critically reviews the initiatives taken by the government in response to these challenges.

The report discusses the effects of the global financial crisis on employment, labour market, labour rights, safety net programmes and resource allocation. In addition to the slowing down of overall export growth, the report also highlights several challenges facing the export sector of the country during the financial crisis. For example, frozen food manufacturers have faced reduction in their sales, and a large number of jute yarn manufacturing units are facing difficulty with regard to selling the already manufactured yarn and as a consequence, large loans from commercial banks remains unpaid. However, the readymade garment sector, which employs more than 2 million workers, has so far been spared the worst consequences of the crisis

The study puts forward short and medium term policy suggestions to mitigate any adverse social effects of the crisis on workers and other vulnerable groups. It addresses some suggestive measures to tackle the economic crisis, which include the following:

• the readymade garment sector should be kept under close monitoring to improve production and efficiency
• for the remaining textile sector, the government should take short and long term steps like introducing special funds to help the sector to compete with the neighboring exporters
• domestic use of jute and jute-made goods is highly encouraged to improve production and consumption.