Absence of apparel factories, lack of jobs and low wages in place of origin have been identified as major reasons behind the migration of garment workers in the country, according to a latest survey. About 93 per cent of the garment workers surveyed work more than 50 kilometres (km) away from their permanent residences, it revealed. The National Skills Development Council (NSDC) under the Ministry of Labour and the Centre for Trade and Investment (CTI) of Dhaka University jointly conducted the two research works titled ‘Study on migration pattern of workforce in RMG sector for positioning RMG related skill training centres’ and ‘Skill required in agricultural sector to meet the future demand for mechanised cultivation’. State Minister for Labour Mujibul Haque launched Saturday the reports at a programme held in the city. Labour Secretary Mikail Shipar and Chief Executive Officer of NSDC Secretariat ABM Khorshed Alam, among others, were present. The survey was conducted on 1,049 workers of 11 knit and woven factories located in Dhaka, Gazipur, Narayanganj and Chittagong. The study revealed that 72.79 per cent of the surveyed garment workers attributed absence of garment factories in their place of origin to their migration while lack of jobs pushed some 12.93 per cent to migrate to big cities. Some 7.29 per cent respondents reported reuniting with relatives and friends as a reason for migration, mostly from Chittagong and Comilla while 2.24 per cent held low wages, it showed. Most of the garment workers accounting for 32.98 per cent are from Dhaka division, followed by 21.54 per cent from Rangpur, 15.54 per cent from Barisal and 11.54 per cent from Chittagong, according to the study. The broad objectives of the study on the country’s garment sector are to identify the migration pattern of RMG workers and explore the reasons of migration, training facility for garment workers and benefit of such training, tenure of workers at factory and quality of life of migrant garment workers, said Mohammad Thoufiqul Islam, Associate Professor of Department of Management and Programme Director of CTI. The study also found that RMG workers didn’t get formal training, but learnt the job while working as helpers in garment factories indicating lack of formal training facilities for garment workers. It said 68.27 per cent of garment workers reported that they don’t have training centres in their place of origin, 27 per cent are not aware of any training centres while some didn’t get training due to time commitment, lack of training centres and cost related training. The study recommended establishment of garment training centres near the area of origin of garment workers and taking necessary steps to make the garment workers aware of training centres in future and getting RMG related training. The average tenure of the garment workers in the industry is 4.78 years, it showed. The female workers have shorter tenure than male workers as they leave job following the domestic work responsibility after their marriage. According to the study, 90.84 per cent garment workers live in rented houses while 4.39 live is shared houses (mess). The study, however, raised question about the quality and usefulness of childcare centres for garment workers as it found that the majority of the children of garment workers — more than 45 per cent — are cared by grandparents and relatives.
