Bangladesh’s apparel export recovery, notwithstanding the recent performance, could face some hiccups as the labour-intensive garment manufacturing sector, considered the lifeline to the country’s economy, is faced with a unique problem so far unheard of in a country renowned for its affordable and abundant manpower.
“We are facing labour shortage by 10 per cent to 15 per cent…,” maintained Managing Director of Designer Jeans Ltd., Jashim Uddin speaking to Apparel Resources.
Catering predominantly to buyers in USA and Europe (50 per cent US, 45 per cent EU and 5 per cent from Japan), the Platinum-certified green unit of Designer Jeans Ltd., is planning to expand its capacities by adding 400 more machines to the existing 2,500 machine set-up to cater to the increased demand from the buyers as the industry, in general, continues to get significant work orders from brands and retailers post the festival season as well, otherwise considered a lean period.
“…sometimes, we can’t confirm orders due to the shortage of workers,” complained Managing Director of Kappa Fashions Ahmed F. Rahman, who is compelled to run his manufacturing unit with only 500 workers, while Managing Director of Evince Group Anwar Ul Alam Chowdhury and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ha-Meem Group AK Azad claimed they are facing at least 8 per cent worker shortage at their respective units amidst intermittent reports coming in of suppliers suffering production losses and missed shipments on account of the same.
President of the Bangladesh Apparel Workers Federation Towhidur Rahman and President of the Sammilito Garment Sramik Federation Nazma Akter too conceded there’s a shortage of workers, ranging from 15 per cent to 20 per cent.
Inputs from various sources indicate towards two principal reasons for current shortage of workers even as President of the Bangladesh National Garment Employees League Sirajul Islam Rony observed many garment workers who were terminated during the peak of the pandemic earlier, went to their respective villages during the lockdown only to shift profession for good.
Thousands of garment workers were rendered jobless during the peak of COVID-19 in 2020 as global buyers went for mass order cancellations.
Things have, however, changed now as Bangladesh garment makers continue to bask in altered business scenario on the back of work orders coming in thick and fast.
“…many skilled workers have gone abroad, especially to Jordan and Mauritius,” further added an industry insider, highlighting another reason behind the current crisis, while quoting data from the Bangladeshi Embassy in Amman, reports claimed around 40,000 women workers from Bangladesh are currently employed in the Jordanian garment sector.
“Every week we recruit around 500 female migrants for Jordan…,” said Company Secretary of the state-run Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Mohammad Abdus Sobhan, adding, “It’s a very good opportunity for Bangladeshi female migrants to earn more as a skilled workforce with much more dignity… All they need to have is some working experience in the local garment factories.”
Vice-President of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) Fazlee Shamim Ehsan also rued the shortage of workers coming in the way of garment makers being able to exploit the opportunities.
We cannot capitalise on those mainly because of shortage of workers, lamented the BKMEA Vice-President, agreeing to the views as shared by Sirajul.
Although we have many orders, we can’t expand due to a shortage of workers, opined Senior General Manager at Maasco Group Shahin Mohammad, while Base Fashions Limited, which employs around 1,000 workers, is also facing around 10 per cent worker shortage.
Similar is the situation of Chorka Textile Ltd (CTL), the sister concern of the Pran-RFL conglomerate, which started full-fledged double-shift production to meet the growing demand for knitwear, especially lingerie, but is now plagued by worker crisis.
“One of the main challenges to enhance the production capacity is the availability of required workers…,” underlined Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pran-RFL Group.
Solution on the horizon!
Given the existing situation, many garment makers have started scouting for fresh talents even if the bigger players have resorted to in-house trainings to meet the workers’ requirement. Take for example Fakir Apparels Limited, which has appointed 400 new workers only last month after training those for three-long months at its training centre at the Narayanganj-based garment factory.
“Sometimes, we have to pay more fringe benefits to retain them in times of crisis…,” said Ehterab Hossain, Managing Director of Base Fashions Limited even as the BGMEA continues to run its 12 training centres to full capacity, to train the new workers and make them industry ready.
However, considering the size of the industry, 12 training centres, many feel is not adequate as they advocate increasing the number of training centres manifold over while also calling upon the private players (training institutes) to ramp up infrastructure and capacities to complement the efforts.
Meanwhile, experts have underlined the need for a concerted and holistic approach even as the BGMEA is apparently already at it. “…we are engaging with the stakeholders including the development partners in training and skill development programmes, for existing and new workers,” said the BGMEA President.
Giving an instance of how neighbouring India is implementing an Integrated Skill Development Scheme aimed at creating a robust human resources for the country’s textile sector through a multi-pronged approach, involving attracting manpower through various channels, incentivising them adequately while also providing fiscal assistance to individual factories engaged in workers’ training, experts said endeavours in the lines of the same could fetch Bangladesh good dividends, adding India has been able to achieve a great degree of success with the scheme as it helped address the critical gap of skilled manpower positively, to wind up on a positive note.
