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Is Bangladesh's growth story quietly unravelling on jobs?

For a country celebrated over much of the past decade for its manufacturing boom, rising exports, and the growing prominence of ‘Made in Bangladesh’ labels on global high streets, the employment figures are somewhat sobering. Beneath the narrative of industrial success, the numbers suggest that job creation has not kept pace with the sector’s rapid expansion.

Bangladesh’s manufacturing engine may be running faster than ever, but it appears to be doing so with fewer hands on the deck. According to a study by a non-governmental organisation, manufacturing employment in Bangladesh has reportedly shrunk by about *.* million over the past decade or so, and the paradox is perhaps most stark in the readymade garment (RMG) industry, the undisputed backbone of the economy and its largest source of industrial jobs.