For 25-year-old Syed Siam, the decision to skip university in Bangladesh for a life in Japan has paid off in ways his homeland could not offer. Working the strictly regulated 28 hours a week allowed by the Japanese government,
Siam spends his shifts in a convenience shop. Because Japan enforces a strict minimum wage, his part-time labour covers his semester fees, house rent, and personal expenses, all while allowing him to send Tk30,000 back home to his family.
Back in Bangladesh, 27-year-old Nazmus Shakib lives a different reality. Despite holding a master’s degree from Carmichael College in Rangpur, Shakib’s role as a battery company salesman earns him just Tk22,500.
It is not enough. When his office shift ends, his second job begins: moonlighting as a battery-powered auto-rickshaw driver to navigate the skyrocketing cost of living. “The price of everything is increasing so much, I am forced to take a rickshaw,” Shakib says.
Their stories highlight a systemic failure: while the Western world and various Asian nations utilise a minimum wage to ensure a standard of living and steady tax revenue, Bangladesh’s private sector remains largely a ‘wild west’ of earnings.
In Bangladesh, most private sector professions do not have a declared minimum salary structure. Even with a master’s degree, many earn Tk12,000 to Tk15,000 a month. In much of the Western world and several Asian countries, minimum wages are formally set to support a basic standard of living, bringing workers into the tax net and ensuring government revenue.
Real income is falling
Since the Covid pandemic, inflation has risen sharply. It reached 9.13 per cent in February, with food inflation at 9.30 per cent. In contrast, wages have increased by about 5 per cent in sectors with a wage board, while most private sectors lack consistent pay adjustments.
“Even if wages increase by 6 to 7 per cent, if inflation is close to 10 per cent, then no real benefit is obtained. As a result, the standard of living of workers decreases,” economist Shahadat said.
He linked this to slowing poverty reduction. “The level of deprivation of those who were already poor has increased. What was once limited deprivation is now becoming multidimensional. It is becoming difficult to meet even minimum needs with current income.”
An official of the Minimum Wage Board, requesting anonymity, said, “Our goal is not to close any industry but to sustain it. We have to set wages that allow workers to survive while enabling owners to maintain operations. We try to strike a balance so that no one is harmed.”
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