Does Human Capital Endowment Correspond to Employment Status of the Migrant Informal Workers in Khulna City, Bangladesh?

Abstract

Inadequate human capital is one of the common characteristics of the migrant dominated informal sector in developing economies.  The objective of this study is to measure employment vulnerability of informal workers in Khulna city, Bangladesh. In doing so, this  study tries to classify the informal workers in Khulna city, Bangladesh using a two-step cluster analysis based on homogeneous human  capitals. The human capitals include education, age, experience, training, skills, communication and decision making power.  Data on these attributes is collected through questionnaire surveys from 150 migrant informal workers. Thereafter, the human capital  deprivation score has been calculated in order to check the extent of employment vulnerability of those classified groups. The results  show that the migrant traders and construction workers are vulnerable whereas service providers, manufacturing and transportation  workers are extremely vulnerable. The relative economic wellbeing of migrant informal workers depends on job availability, payment   process and demand.