Alauddin works eight hours a day at a private jute mill in Khulna for a monthly wage of just Tk4,500. Even Azad Mia, a worker in the mill’s highest wage grade, earns only Tk10,000.
The government set the minimum wage for private jute mill workers at Tk8,000 in 2022, but the rate has yet to be implemented. In the jute press and baling industry, the minimum wage has remained at Tk4,850 since 2014, with no move to revise it in 12 years.
The disparity reflects a wider pattern in Bangladesh’s wage-setting system: while garment workers have seen regular revisions, workers in many other industries have gone years without an increase, and millions remain outside any minimum wage framework.
The Minimum Wages Board sets wages for workers in 62 industrial categories, but the ready-made garment sector is the only one in which wages are regularly updated. With more than four million workers, the sector has repeatedly seen large street protests over pay, making unrest difficult to contain.
Other industries employ fewer workers, and their protests are generally less visible and less disruptive to public life. Their demands have consequently received far less attention from the authorities.
Garment workers are now set to receive their sixth wage increase in 16 years. Yet many sectors employing workers among the country’s nearly 80 million working people still have no minimum wage, while those with existing rates have seen little initiative to revise them.
Labour organisations have long demanded a national minimum wage covering workers across occupations and industries. The Labour Reform Commission formed under the interim government also recommended such a framework, but neither the interim administration nor the current BNP government has acted on the proposal.
Minimum Wages Board Chairman and District and Sessions Judge Syed Azad Subhani told TIMES that the board was currently occupied with the export-oriented garment industry.
“We are a little busy with our export-oriented garment industry at present. I will gradually begin work on all the industries for which minimum wages have been declared,” he said.
Minimum wages below Tk10,000 in 16 industries
Minimum wages remain below Tk10,000 in 16 industries. The minimum monthly wage is Tk9,500 in the soap and cosmetics industry, Tk9,140 in security services, Tk8,700 in aluminium and enamel manufacturing, Tk8,500 in glass and silicate manufacturing, and Tk8,150 in printing presses.
Workers in the plastics industry and private jute mills have a minimum wage of Tk8,000 each, followed by Tk7,810 in rice mills, Tk7,500 in tailoring factories, Tk7,420 in oil mills and vegetable products manufacturing, and Tk7,100 in leather goods and footwear factories.
The export-oriented shrimp industry has a minimum wage of Tk6,700, almost half the rate for garment workers. The figure falls to Tk5,930 in automobile workshops and Tk4,560 in the match industry.
The lowest minimum wage is just Tk2,500 for unskilled adult and adolescent workers in privately owned industrial establishments. It was set on 5 December 2012.
In another 25 industries, minimum wages range from Tk10,000 to Tk18,000.
Wages unchanged for up to 16 years
Workers in the oil mills and vegetable products industry have not received a minimum wage revision since 2010, when the rate was set at Tk7,420 for workers and Tk4,200 for employees.
Sixteen years later, they still have no indication of when their wages will increase.
Minimum wages were last fixed for salt-crushing workers in June 2011 and for unskilled adult and adolescent workers in privately owned industrial establishments in December 2012.
The match industry’s minimum wage was last determined in September 2013, followed by the jute press and baling industry in June 2014 and land port workers in September 2016.
Journalists face a similar situation. Their last wage board took effect in September 2013. Although the ninth wage board was announced in September 2019, it has not been implemented seven years later because of writ petitions filed by several newspapers.
The Minimum Wages Board’s website says wage revisions are under way in these industries. However, the salt-crushing, match, jute press and baling, and land port industries currently have no representatives in the process.
Letters concerning automobile workshop workers and employees of leather goods and footwear factories have been sent to the ministry, while discussions are continuing over wages in the glass and silicate industry.
Minimum Wages Board Secretary Raisa Afroz said gazette notifications revising wages in the oil mills and vegetable products industry, for unskilled adult and adolescent workers in privately owned industrial establishments, and in the shipbreaking industry could be issued at any time.
Asked why the revisions had taken so long, she cited changes in industry representation and administrative delays.
“After the boards were formed, employer representatives resigned in some industries and worker representatives in others. A representative from one industry died. In some cases, we determined the wages and sent them to the ministry,” she told TIMES.
No national minimum wage framework
Unlike many countries, Bangladesh has no national minimum wage framework covering workers across sectors.
Millions of people employed in agriculture, construction, transport and domestic work remain in informal employment without legal protections, according to the report.
A WageIndicator Foundation study titled Minimum Wage Rates in 207 Countries, 2014–2023 found that only 18 countries had no statutory minimum wage, while 97 countries had minimum wages.
Several South Asian countries have introduced broader wage protections.
India recognised the legal right to minimum wages for workers in both formal and informal sectors from November 2025. Its central government sets a wage floor based on workers’ living standards, below which state governments cannot set minimum wages.
Nepal raised its monthly minimum wage for workers outside tea gardens to 19,550 rupees in July 2025, equivalent to Tk16,225. Its daily and hourly minimum wages stand at 754 rupees and 101 rupees, equivalent to Tk626 and Tk84 respectively.
Sri Lanka introduced a minimum wage for private-sector employees in 2016. From 1 January 2026, its monthly minimum wage increased to 30,000 rupees, equivalent to Tk11,213, while the daily minimum stands at 1,200 rupees.
In Bangladesh, the Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad (SKOP) and the Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation have demanded a minimum wage of Tk30,000.
The Labour Reform Commission, in its report submitted to then chief adviser Muhammad Yunus in April 2025, recommended introducing a national minimum wage covering formal and informal workers, public and private employees, workers in domestic and foreign organisations, and self-employed people.
It also proposed establishing a permanent national wage commission.
North South University Economics Professor Waresul Karim, however, believes Bangladesh has yet to develop the economic capacity needed to introduce a national minimum wage.
He nevertheless stressed the importance of setting minimum wages for every industry.
“We have such a serious unemployment problem that if you set a minimum wage for everyone, we will not be able to provide jobs,” he told TIMES.
Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed, who headed the interim government’s Labour Reform Commission and serves as executive director of the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS), disagreed.
“When 70 per cent of political parties and 80 per cent of parliament consist of businesspeople, they will not increase wages unless there is a major outcry,” he said.
“Since the labour movement is not active at the national level, political parties do not talk much about workers, and neither does the opposition. As a result, workers’ issues are not becoming a national priority.”
Weak unions, muted demands
Workers in most industries lack central trade union organisations capable of pressing their demands at the national level.
Although factory-based and regional unions exist, their limited reach makes it difficult to influence government decisions. Smaller industries also struggle to attract official attention.
Sonali Jute Mills Trade Union General Secretary Nazir Uddin Nazrul said private employers often prevented workers from forming unions.
“Owners of private establishments do not allow trade unions to be formed. As a result, there is no one to look after how these workers are living,” he said.
Sylhet Sadar Chatal Mill Workers’ Union General Secretary Tajul Islam said the imbalance of influence between workers and employers made collective action difficult.
“We do not have many members, and the owners have greater influence here. That is why we cannot organise movements for workers’ rights or present our demands,” he said.
“Perhaps they will invite us on some occasion, listen to us and give assurances. After that, nothing will happen.”
Socialist Labour Front Organising Secretary Khalequzzaman Lipon said stronger union representation was essential to securing wage increases.
“There must be labour organisations in every sector. Only then will demands become stronger. Otherwise, it will not be possible.”
