Rate of wage increase in the country’s low paid skilled and unskilled labours declined marginally in the past fiscal year.
Latest Wage Rate Index (WRI), released by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), showed that the index in general increased by 6.46 per cent in FY18 while the growth rate was 6.50 per cent in FY17.
The WRI measures the movement of nominal wages of low paid skilled and unskilled labour over time in different sectors of the economy.
The BBS data also showed that the growth of the WRI, nominal wage to be more realistic, was 6.52 per cent in FY16, which was 4.94 per cent in FY15.
It also showed that the growth of nominal wages in both agriculture and service sectors dropped in the past fiscal year while it increased in the industry sector.
According to the BBS, wage indices for agriculture and service sectors increased by 6.41 per cent and 6.51 per cent respectively in the past fiscal year, which were 6.59 per cent and 6.60 per cent respectively in FY17.
Growth rate of the WRI for industry, however, increased to 6.55 per cent in FY18 from 6.24 per cent in FY17.
Amount of money received either in cash or in kind in a day for standard daily working hours or earnings of low paid labor who works on hourly basis has been included here as wage earners.
Salary- and high contract-based earnings have been excluded from compilation of the WRI.
