Dhaka, Dec. 9 -- Fisheries and Livestock Adviser Farida Akhter on Tuesday said that nearly 85 percent of Bangladesh's workforce is employed in the informal sector, yet most remain unrecognised and excluded from social protection.

Speaking at the Informal & Marginalised Formal Women Workers Convention 2025, organised by Oxfam in Bangladesh at a convention centre in Dhaka's Tejgaon, she said the economy would not function without the contributions of tea workers, fishers, domestic workers and others in the informal segment.

She, however, noted that economists often focus solely on the formal sector, leaving the roles and contributions of informal workers largely overlooked, which in turn denies them proper recognition and rights.

Farida ...