This May 2018 issue of Thinking Aloud focuses on “Bangladesh’s labor market challenges”. The first article on “How can Bangladesh avoid ‘jobless growth’?” focuses on a critical concern that despite impressive economic growth in recent years, job creation in Bangladesh has been rather unsatisfactory. The article suggests for a ‘meaningful’ structural transformation of the economy coupled with enhancement in productivity and economic diversification in order to ensure that economic growth is able to produce jobs and livelihoods for as many people as possible. The second article titled “Living wage in the RMG sector in Bangladesh: Some conceptual issues” emphasizes on the growing demand for moving towards a living wage in the RMG sector and the challenges. The article proposes a multifactor approach in moving towards a living wage. For this, the number of dependent family members, upgraded quality of food, housing, healthcare, and children’s education need to be considered. Providing non-monetary benefits like rationing, housing facility, health, and education may prove to be useful. Therefore, moving from ‘minimum wage’ to ‘living wage’ in the RMG sector requires a major change in the policy discourse and is clearly a challenge in Bangladesh as well as in other countries. The third-page article titled “Bangladesh’s migration challenges: In pursuit of a better complaint mechanism” outlines the challenges of migrant workers and advocates for a better complaint mechanism. In order to make the migration process smooth an effective pre-departure training, increasing awareness about the complaint mechanism, and ensuring workers read the contract paper prior to signing are essential. The final page draws attention to the events that took place in the month of April.
