The Effects of International Scrutiny on Manufacturing Workers : Evidence from the Rana Plaza Collapse in Bangladesh
After the tragic factory collapse of Rana Plaza in 2013, the direct reforms and indirect responses of retailers have both plausibly affected workers in the ready-made garment sector in Bangladesh. These reforms include a minimum wage increase, high...
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/301881574283378595/The-Effects-of-International-Scrutiny-on-Manufacturing-Workers-Evidence-from-the-Rana-Plaza-Collapse-in-Bangladesh http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32674 |
| Summary: | After the tragic factory collapse of
Rana Plaza in 2013, the direct reforms and indirect
responses of retailers have both plausibly affected workers
in the ready-made garment sector in Bangladesh. These
reforms include a minimum wage increase, high profile but
voluntary audits, and an increased reluctance to subcontract
to smaller factories. This paper uses six rounds of the
Labor Force Survey and adopts a difference-in-difference
approach to evaluate the net effects of these changes on
garment workers, compared with workers in other
manufacturing industries and other plausible control groups.
Although employers appear to have increased sick leave and
some measures of safety at work, they simultaneously have
reduced job security in the form of written contracts. The
study also finds that, a few years after Rana Plaza, average
hourly wages have fallen significantly for female workers.
The results suggest that regulations that are initially
aimed at helping workers can have unintended adverse effects
on several dimensions of workers' outcomes. |
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