Employment in Dhaka

The core of Bangladesh’s business and commerce sectors reside at the capital city of Dhaka and the surrounding metropolitan area. A large portion of the economy is based in the informal sector which provides employment for a significant number of Dhaka’s lower class. Rick-shaw operators, street vendors, and hawkers form a major part of the informal sector with over 400,000 rick-shaw drivers alone. Nearly half of the lower class finds employment through household work and other forms of unorganized labor. Additionally, the textile industry provides jobs for approximately 800,000 of Dhaka’s 15,000,000 citizens.

Dhaka’s upper class has driven up demand for luxury goods and various consumer products, thus boosting employment numbers in the manufacturing industry. However, the city faces huge employment challenges with unemployment rates at 23%, among the lowest of any South-Asian mega-city. About 48% of the city lives below the poverty line and the average annual income is around $550 American dollars. Much of this unemployment is due to migrants from rural villages who cannot find jobs once they arrive in the big city. Many of these people are forced to survive on less than $10 American dollars a day.

Bangladesh’s economy in general still largely depends on agriculture, and as a result the nation as a whole has seen little economic growth over the last few years. This means that, although the upper and middle class’s purchasing power has gone up in recent years, the consumer economy still remains relatively low. And in turn, fewer jobs in the manufacturing sector are available to Dhaka’s poor.

Dhaka’s rick-shaw operators (which make up the largest such contingent in the world) are slowly adding to the unemployment numbers as government officials have made efforts to rid the streets of them. The government argues that they only add to the traffic congestion problem and further hurt the city’s economy. However, recently both the United Nations and the Dhaka City Corporation have been designing plans to segregate lanes and build special pathways for rick-shaws. Not only would this save a source of employment for many people, but it would likely increase the average earnings for each individual operator due to quicker delivery times.

The government in an effort to curb unemployment has appealed to the upper class by building several malls which in turn have provided employment for the middle class. However, this has done little to remedy the situation because most of the unemployment stems from people who have grown up in a lower class background. The government also expanded the amount of companies on the Dhaka Stock Exchange but again this has only benefited the upper end of the economic scale and done little to effect joblessness rates.

The future for Dhaka’s job market is not as bleak as it seems. Several foreign companies are planning on constructing skyscrapers and urban development plans will boost the lagging construction sector. Additionally, the government has spent millions on advertising in foreign countries to try and boost tourism which will likely create more jobs. Though, in comparison to other Asian mega-cities such as Seoul, South Korea, Dhaka is miserably behind in terms of the economy and employment.

Sources

www.dhakacity.org/Page/To_know/About/Category/2/Id/21/Type/Quick/Info

www.prb.org/Articles/2001/UrbanizationTakesonNewDimensionsinAsiasPopulationGiants.aspx

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/136074.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/h1/south_asia/5052738.stm

http://web.archive.org/web/20040909085826

www.citiesalliance.org/fukuoka.nsf/Attachments/CP_Dhaka/$File/CPF_Dhaka.PDF

http://www.dhaka-city.com/images/rickshaw-dhaka.jpg