Bangladesh News

The real income of people working in the agriculture, manufacturing and construction sectors decreased by 2-5 percent last year, a recent study conducted by Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) revealed.

People belonging to the low and middle income groups told The Daily Star that they have been forced to cut budgets for other purposes as a major chunk of their daily or monthly income is spent for purchasing food.

After such expenditure, little is left for saving, they said.

Former adviser to the caretaker government Akbar Ali Khan said the real situation is even worse than the study’s findings since the income of the lower and middle class people has decreased more in the last three months compared to the increased inflation rate.

“The prices of items used by the poor, especially food items, have increased more than those used by rich people,” he told The Daily Star.

The BIDS study shows that the real wages of people at the national level decreased by 3.95 percent in December 2007 compared to the wages of January that year. The wages of farmers also reduced by 4.6 percent during the period.

The study found that the real wages of people working in the manufacturing sector decreased by 2.37 percent and construction sector by 4.40 percent.

According to a 2005-06 survey on national labour force conducted by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), only 13.90 percent employed people in the country are paid regularly. The survey said 21.70 percent people are unpaid family workers and 42 percent are self-employed.

The BBS survey showed that the number of unemployed people increased by 5 percent in 2006, reaching 21 lakh, compared to the number in 2003.

Another BBS survey titled “Wage Rate and Earnings of Non-farm Workers 2007″ found that the range of monthly income of employees is as low as Tk 1,000-6,000.

According to information of Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), the prices of food products have increased by 50-85 percent in the last one year.

The TCB report said the prices of coarse rice was Tk 18-19 per kg in December 2006 and as per yesterday’s marker rate the same variety of rice sold at Tk 30-32, which means the price increased 67 percent.

The price of flour increased 83 percent per kg during the same period. In December 2006, its price was Tk 24-25 per kg but it reached Tk 44-45 yesterday.

The price of soya bean oil reached Tk 112-116 per litre yesterday, which was Tk 61-63 in December 2006.

Khaled Mohammad Shafiullah, a private company employee, said he was forced to cut his family’s monthly budget due to the huge expenditure for food.

He said the house rent and expenditures of education, transport and medical have also increased. “I am worried because the landlord gave hints that he will increase the house rent shortly,” he added.

“Now I have no budget for my family’s recreation,” said Khaled who earns Tk 13,000 a month.

Rickshaw-puller Manik, a resident of Gorhanga in Rajshahi city, said now he earns about Tk 90-110 daily while he used to get Tk 70-80 a year back. But it didn’t have any positive impact on his living standard as the prices of essentials have gone sky-high.

“It’s true that I earn more now. But I have to spend bulk of the money buying essential commodities including rice,” he said.

Nazrul, a construction worker in New Market area, said the number of day labourers in the city has increased significantly due to lack of work in rural areas.

“Since the number of day labourers has increased, now it’s very difficult to find work. It’s becoming really hard for me to maintain my family as the prices of essentials are always on the rise,” said Nazrul, the lone breadwinner of a five-member family.

Arman, a salesman of a grocery shop, said buying capacity of general people has decreased due to price hike of essentials.

“I have some regular customers. I observed that many of them are buying less than what they used to about few months back,” he said.

“I earn Tk 125 to 150 a day now. But it’s impossible for me to run my family with the spiked prices of rice and other food items” said Mohammad Montu, an elderly rickshaw-puller of Dapunia village in Pabna.

Middle-class people are also affected badly due to price spiral of food items. A government employee of Pabna, requesting anonymity said he gets a monthly salary of Tk 9,000 and spends Tk 4,000 on house rent.

It has become very difficult for him to maintain his six-member family with the money left.

Hossain Ali, a day labourer of Kurigram, said it was possible for him to save Tk 5-8 per day a year back. But now he can’t save anything although his income has increased.

[Our correspondents Abu Kalam Ratan from Rajshahi, Ahmed Humayun Kabir from Pabna and Abdul Wahed from Kurigram contributed for the news item]