Ethiopia Clothing Workers Earn Only 26 Dollars A Month.

A newly released report says workers in Ethiopia garment factories are the lowest in the world, earning only 26 dollars a month, and their wages are less than half the 95 dollars of low-income workers in Bangladesh.

Most of these workers work for Guess, H&M and Calvin Klein and other world-renowned fashion brands.

Ethel is the more than 2 largest country in Africa. 105 million of the population still relies heavily on agriculture, with a life expectancy of 66 years.

The country faces severe drought and poverty.

In 1991, the Ethiopia people's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which came to power through armed struggle, has been briefly occupied by Italy fascists during World War II.

The report is released by the Stern business and human rights center of New York University. It is called "made in Ethiopia: challenges facing the new frontiers of the clothing industry".

Researchers in the southern capital of the country about 25 thousand workers in the important Park Hawassa research, the number of employees is expected to increase to 60 thousand people.

The report points out that the government of Ethiopia has been trying to find a leading manufacturing center in the African continent and has thrown a lot of labor intentions to foreign investors. Suppliers such as China, India and Sri Lanka have already set up factories in their main parks, but their remuneration is less than half of that of Bangladesh. Even increasing subsidies can not guarantee workers' basic living needs.

Employees are becoming dissatisfied with rewards and working conditions, and more and more people are protesting by stopping work or resign.

The report shows that on average, all factory workers are changed every 12 months, most of them are young women, with less training and low efficiency of garment factories.

"The Ethiopia government, global brands and foreign manufacturers all want to promote the creation of the" Ethiopia made brand ", but they do not expect the basic wage to be too small for workers," the report said.

Ethiopia has no minimum wage for the private sector (privatesector).

The monthly salary level of garment factories ranked in the selected countries of 14, from top to bottom respectively: Turkey, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa, Kenya, Kampuchea, Vietnam, Lesotho, Laos, Bangladesh, Burma and Ethiopia.

The picture is cut from the report.

In fact, the monthly salary of US $26 refers to the lowest entry salary paid by the government, such as floor sweeper, which is regarded as a means by which garment workers are initially attracted to this condition.

Ethiopia's population is second only to Kenya in Africa, but Kenya counterparts earn 207 dollars a month. The report shows that Chinese garment factory workers earn 326 dollars a month.

Another 2013 government survey found that 52% of employees in the country earn less than $35 a month.

The government hopes that the country's clothing exports will increase from US $145 million to 300 billion a year.

This figure has been criticized as "impractical". The fact is that low wages and lack of training lead to low productivity, accompanied by regular strikes and high wastage rates.

According to the report, in addition to the unsustainable low wages, another challenge for the clothing industry in the country is that raw materials are almost dependent on imports, about 148 thousand acres of land are used for planting cotton, and the rest for cash crops.

Most of the fabrics in Hawassa park come from Ethel.

Similar to Bangladesh, Bangladesh's clothing components are imported because of its inability to develop its own supply chain, so its factories are mostly limited to tailoring and sewing.

By comparison, the Chinese garment factories have shifted from simple T shirts and trousers production to more complex, diversified and high value production, similar industries with automobiles and electronic equipment.

As for whether Ethel should borrow the research personnel in China or Bangladesh, the report researchers did not give the answer, but urged the government to establish the minimum wage standard as soon as possible, and to train the Labor Committee to voice the workers.