International apparel buyers should invest more in Bangladesh’s workplace safety, if they are really willing to improve the readymade garment (RMG) labourers’ working condition here, an international expert opined in the capital on Sunday. “Imposing any trade restriction on Bangladeshi products will not assist in improving RMG workers’ working condition in the country in any way,” said Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak, a Professor of Economics at Yale University in USA. “Rather it would hamper the immense progress Bangladesh has made in terms of female labour participation and resultant women empowerment,” he added. Mr Mobarak, who leads the Bangladesh Research Program for the International Growth Centre (IGC) at LSE and Oxford, said these in a seminar – ‘Ready Made Garments Industry: Informing Policy with Evidence-based Research’. International Growth Center and BRAC Institute of Governance and Development jointly organized it. Citing a recent study, conducted on 1,400 villages in Dhaka and Gazipur, he said a 10 percent growth in garment sector employment led to a 1.3 percentage point increase in the probability of female school enrolment. The same research also showed that the presence of garment factories in a locality increases return to education, and the parents respond by keeping their daughters in school, he also said. With a total export of US$ 25,491 million in the fiscal year 2014-15, RMG continues to be the biggest export earning sector for Bangladesh, constituting 81.68 percent of the country’s total export. At the same time, it employs around 4.0 million people, the majority of whom are women. However, working condition for these labourers, including the issue of workplace safety, has always been a major concern for the international buyers. The issue especially came into forefront following the Rana Plaza collapse in April 2013. Addressing this concern, Mr Mobarak pointed out that rather than imposing any trade restriction, coordinated and coherent investment in workplace safety by the international apparel giants can offer a better solution in improving the working condition of Bangladesh’s garment factories. Elaborating on the results of his study, he opined that RMG factories are actually helping to increase female enrolment in schools and decrease child marriage. He pointed out that women employed in RMG sector earn 13.7 percent more than women of same education and experience employed elsewhere. At the same time, within the RMG sector, wages for labourers are 3.67 percent higher for an extra year of education. Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce Hedayetullah Al Mamoon attended the seminar as the chief guest. He said the government’s experiences show that enhancing the soft skills of farmers can increase their productivity. “Non-cognitive skills are often associated with better labour market outcomes and higher economic wellbeing,” said Achyuta Adhvaryu, Assistant Professor of University of Michigan, during a presentation. Eminent economist Professor Wahiduddin Mahmud, Country Director of IGC Bangladesh Dr. Sultan Hafeez Rahman, and UNDP Deputy Country Director Nick Beresford also spoke in the programme.
