Addressing Workers’ Rights in the Textile and Apparel Industries: Consequences for the Bangladesh Economy

Abstract

Summary This paper applies a CGE model to analyze the effects of better addressing worker’s rights in Bangladesh’s textile and apparel industries. Results show that an increased minimum wage for unskilled, low-, and medium-skilled workers has negative impacts for these workers in aggregate and also for the economy in terms of export, GDP, and welfare. This comes from the decrease in employment. However, labor productivity-increasing improvements in factory conditions and services to workers not only increase incomes of workers, but also welfare. Entrepreneurs also enjoy higher incomes, enabling them to pay for improving the work environment.