Dr. Abu S. Shonchoy
Dr. Momoe Makino
MOMODa FOUNDATION in co-operation with IDE-JETRO and Florida International University begins a RCT based experiment in Gaibandha on "Whether and How Role Model Encourages Female Labor Force Participation (FLFP)?".
The objective of this study is to investigate whether the role model encourages FLFP in rural Bangladesh, and if so, how. For this objective, we conduct the randomized controlled trial (RCT). FLFP here means work outside of the home, typically in the factory (not necessarily in the garment industry). We include those jobs that Skill for Employment Investment Program (SEIP) trainees are placed after the training session.
The
Vocational training programs aimed at rapidly growing sectors have the potential to reduce skills gaps and improve firm productivity. Training may also improve the likelihoods of individuals who are disadvantaged by various socioeconomic conditions. However, vocational programs enhancing skills have often been unsuccessful, because they are not driven by industry-demand and market-linkages, and because they are not well targeted. In a rigorous RCT-based impact study conducted by Shonchoy et al. (2015) show that a training-program offered to women and men from poor rural households in northwest Bangladesh has significant effects on employment in garment factories in the great Dhaka area.
• Dr. Abu S. Shonchoy
• Dr. Selim Raihan
• Dr. Tomoki Fujii
Bangladesh has been a success story in promoting employment for its growing population. Taking advantage of their abundance of relatively low-skilled labor, Bangladesh engaged in world markets through light manufacturing, which created wage employment in large numbers, providing opportunities for rural migrants. The expansion of the light manufacturing sector has allowed for the integration of young women to the labor market. Agricultural modernization, labor migration, and social policies have altered the jobs landscape of Bangladesh, but these changes have not generated a major formalization and the share of formal jobs has not increased much over the past decade.
Concerns
