There are over 50.17 lakh workers in the garment factories in the country and 55.57 percent of the workers are women, state minister for labour and employment Nazrul Islam Chowdhury informed parliament on Sunday while responding to a tabled question of ruling Awami League MP elected from Bhola-3 Nurunnabi Chowdhury.

The state minister said that according to the information of BGMEA, there are 33,17,397 workers in the garment factories in Bangladesh. Among them 52.28 percent are women workers. Therefore, the number of women workers are 17.34 lakh.

According to BKMEA data, there are 17 lakh workers in the knit sector. Of which 62 percent--10,54,157 are women workers.

In total, there are 50 lakh 17 thousand 652 workers in the garment industry in the country. Of which 55.57 percent--27 lakh 88 thousand 616 are women workers, the state minister said.

Citing data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the state minister said that according to the 2022 labor force survey, the total workforce in the garment sector is 43,16,000. Of which 37.51 percent meaning 16 lakh 19 thousand are women workers.

In reply to another query, state minister for commerce Ahsanul Islam Titu said that due to the adverse impact of Covid-19, the effect of the Russia-Ukraine war, global economic recession and price inflation in America and Europe, the main export markets of Bangladesh, the slow pace of export earnings is being observed.

Bangladesh's main export product, manufactured garments, has decreased in demand in the world market, resulting in a decline in export growth. However, in countries such as the UK, France, Spain, Canada and Japan, the trend of export earnings from this sector continues to grow.