Dhaka’s open labour market: Tales of rising unemployment and displacement
People are flocking to the capital and other divisional cities in search of steadier jobs and higher income. But are they really finding a better life?
It was early October and it had been raining since dawn. October is known for its clear skies, but this year, fall came late. Mosharraf Hossain, an older man, sat on the road divider in the Khilgaon rail gate circle. He had been sitting there since seven in the morning, hoping to be hired as a mason for the day.
Although aged, Mosharraf gets hired within an hour on a lucky day as he is still strong. But just like the unremitting rain dampened the crisp October weather, it also dampened Mosharraf's chances of getting a job for the day.
The clock was ticking eleven in the morning, yet no client approached.
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"I got hired around 20 days last month, but this month it doesn't look good," Mosharraf said. When asked what he would do today as no one hired him, Mosharraf quipped, "What to do? We will break into houses [to steal]!" Several other labourers around him broke out in laughter. "On days we don't get hired, we idle away at home," he added.
Nearly 50 labourers were waiting for the rain to recede. From septuagenarians to spry young men, they are workers of different ages and sectors and from different parts of the country.
You will see nearly 200 of them gathered if you pay a visit earlier in the morning. Just like the Khilgaon rail gate, hundreds of labourers gather in other parts of the capital as well, including Malibagh rail gate, Maniknagar, Meradia, Jatrabari, Bashabo, etc., every morning.
There are those who find the open labour market a more convenient source of livelihood than pulling rickshaws or other professions. But then there are people like Mosharraf – who are not skilled workers like the garment workers, for example – who are silent victims of climate change, displacement and increasing unemployment in the rural areas that forced them to migrate to Dhaka.
Or Nasir, a young man from Mosharraf's locality who just migrated last month. He said, "What would you do in the village? There is no work in the field."
Some have migrated to the city with their entire family and some are alone.
Mosharraf hails from Patuakhali. He is not homeless, but whatever he has back in the home doesn't produce much. This district's Kolapara and surrounding areas are impacted by the increasing frequency of natural disasters and irregular rainfalls that led to a decline in agricultural production.
Matin Mia, another older man from Kishoreganj, has been a labourer in Dhaka's open labour markets for years. He got a job less than 10 days in the last month, for he is now a little too old to get hired, and besides, work opportunities also have shrunk, in his opinion.
"I am an old man, fine, but how can I survive without working? I have to work," said Matin.
We asked him why he doesn't return home instead and seek to labour there; Matin said that the opportunities in the village are far less than in the capital.
"Who would give me work [in the village]? There is no [regular] work in the farmland. So a few days of working won't do either," he added.
The labourers of Dhaka's open labour market work in diverse sectors. You will get people who would like to get hired as a helper (transport workers) for a day; painters, masons, construction workers, and any petty work you can think of; there is a candidate.
A labourer named Shahjahan said that he often works for a government construction contractor. They pay him Tk700 for a day.
Abul Kashem from Rangpur, who has been in the open labour market in Dhaka for years, had migrated here with his family after river erosion took his home. Within a few years, he upgraded himself from a labourer to a 'labour contractor' who connects labourers with hirers. He works as a leader of a group of labourers. Regarding payment, he also agreed with what Shahjahan said. Now a little more or less than this amount of payment for a day's work is not unheard of in the villages these days.
Field-level workers in the district and village areas, including in the agricultural field, masonry, carpentry, etc., can earn around Tk700, sometimes a little less and at times more.
But the jobs don't come in bulk. In plain, there are not enough jobs.
Even if a person earns a thousand Taka per day in the villages, he is actually not getting that job every day. The labourers we interviewed said getting 10 days of work in a month is a struggle.
"There are no jobs in the village... Besides, other work opportunities [other than agricultural work] are also shrinking… Earnings are high in Dhaka or other divisional cities. So they are coming to the city," said Gawher Nayeem Wahra, Member Secretary of the Foundation for Disaster Forum.
"Many things are happening that we don't see. For example, machines are coming in for harvesting paddies. Rice mills are also automating. This is one of the biggest reasons, especially for the marginal farmers who would work in the harvesting or planting of paddies. You now even have machines for planting paddies. These are reducing work opportunities," the disaster management expert said.
