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As a result, the gap between inflation rate and wage growth hit 3.73 percentage points—the highest in at least a decade—which forced many low-income and unskilled workers to reduce consumption.
The wage growth of such workers declined to 7.93 per cent in July while overall inflation was 11.66 per cent, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) said.
Annual inflation hit a 12-year high of 9.73 per cent in fiscal 2023-24. Though wage growth has been slowly climbing since July 2021, it has been outpaced by rising prices for the past 30 months, according to the data.
The overall wage growth for workers in the agriculture sector decreased to 8.21 per cent in July from 8.33 per cent in June.
Meanwhile, the industrial sector witnessed a wage growth of 7.52 per cent—up from 7.42 per cent.
Wage growth rose in Rajshahi, Rangpur, Sylhet, Barishal, Mymensingh and Khulna, while it decreased in Dhaka and Chattogram.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)