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About 69 per cent of the readymade garment (RMG) workers who used to send money to their families in villages have stopped doing so after the coronavirus outbreak, a recent study found, UNB reports.
Seventy-six per cent of the female workers and 61 per cent male workers did not send money to their families, said the study by Innovation Consulting, a Dhaka-based international consultancy providing research, technical assistance and project management services to multilateral and bi-lateral donor agencies.
According to the study findings, 97 per cent of the workers will stop sending money to their villages if they do not get salaries for the month of April.
“The data is similar for male and female workers - 52 per cent of the respondents reported that the food consumption of the family members in the villages will be affected if the workers continue to refrain from sending money,” it said.
This is followed by education for 7.0 per cent, repayment of loan for 14 per cent, clothing for 11 per cent, entertainment for 9.0 per cent and savings for 4 percent, it added.
The Innovation conducted the study titled ‘Deep Dive on the RMG workers of Bangladesh in Selected Clusters’ to assess the impact of COVID-19 on low-income occupational groups on their livelihood.
“We undertook a simple random sample survey on 84 garment workers from seven garment factories of Gazipur, Narayanganj and Mymensingh,” the survey firm said adding that the data presents the status of the workers in factories that can be termed as progressive.
These factories have been working with development partners on Occupational Health and Safety (OHS), workers’ health, empowerment, and rights issues.
The Innovation collected the data from April 07-09, which coincided with the salary payment date on April 07. It used Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) method for the survey. It also used KoBoToolbox to collect the data on tab through phone survey.
The study result provides in-depth insights on how the income and expenditure patterns of low-income population are shifting as a result of shutdown, how the households are coping and what measures should be undertaken to support them.
According to the study, some 85 per cent of the respondents said they have cash in hand to pay for expenses for some time.
“These respondents currently have Tk 3,686 as cash in hand on average. This can support their family expenses (food and non-food) for 16 days,” revealed the survey.
All the RMG workers reported that their factories are currently closed (data from April 7-9). Twenty-four per cent of the respondents already returned to their village home while76 per cent are still living on the premise from where they attend their work.
Higher percentage of male workers (33 per cent) returned to villages compared to female workers (14 per cent), the study noted.
About food expenditure, the surveyed respondents said they have reduced food expenses by 27 per cent.
“Before the closure of their work, the workers used to spend on average Tk 266 per day on food consumption, which has been reduced to Tk 193,” it said adding that reduction in per day food expense is higher for the female workers (32.5 per cent) compared to the male workers (20.7 per cent).
About access to mobile-banking accounts, some 79 per cent of the respondents have mobile wallets – 83 per cent male workers and 74 per cent female workers.
Some 54 per cent of the respondents are currently paid salary in cash, 33 per cent are paid through mobile accounts and 13 per cent are paid through bank accounts.