Toward a Just Transition: Examining Worker Wellbeing amidst Bangladesh's Brick Kiln Reforms

Background: Populations in Bangladesh face acute climate risk and dangerous levels of urban air pollution. The brick kiln sector contributes significantly to both challenges, and a ‘green transition’ is underway to phase out pollution-intensive kilns and develop cleaner technology. A growing body of research has examined the economic, environmental, and health implications of this shift. However, the impact on vulnerable, low-income migrant laborers employed at kilns is largely overlooked. This group has historically faced precarious living conditions and exploitative labor practices. From a climate justice perspective, any benefits or harms to workers must be considered for a ‘Just Transition’ to occur. This study aims to identify differential outcomes in quality of life, housing and sanitation, working conditions, and financial wellbeing between workers at traditional and improved kilns.

Methods: We employ a cross-sectional, case-control study design. Using multistage stratified random sampling from a roster of ~1,000 brick kilns in greater Dhaka, we collected data from 512 workers at 16 improved kilns and 9 traditional kilns. Female workers comprise 25% of the sample. We implement the WHO quality of life measure, ILO indicators for working conditions, and the Government of India’s NSSO measure for household deprivation, financial inclusion, and financial worry. Multivariate regression models—including logistic and ordered logistic models for categorical outcomes—test whether kiln typology predicts worker outcomes, controlling for gender, age, location, primary income source, and work frequency.

Results: Our findings reveal poignant challenges across the entire sample: poor quality of life, high rates of deprivation, long hours, and tenuous financial circumstances. Gender disparities persist at both kiln types, with 84% reporting women are paid less. However, improved kiln workers fare better: they score 1.15 units higher in physical quality of life (SE = 0.248, p = 0.00), have 51.6% lower odds of housing insecurity (95% CI: 0.310, 0.753) and 64.2% lower odds of housing deprivation (95% CI: 0.181, 0.791), earn higher wages (0.105 logged units higher; SE = 0.038, p = 0.00), worked 1.88 fewer days with irregular hours (SE = 0.92, p = 0.04), and face 80.7% lower odds of workplace injury (95% CI: 1.1225, 2.667). No differences were found for financial indicators.

Implications: Overall, our results suggest some progress toward a just transition, though much more remains to be done. While cross-sectional data limits causal claims, the consistent improvements for ZZK workers across multiple dimensions are striking, and it seems unlikely the green transition is worsening conditions for brick workers. Still, given the poor conditions across the full sample, technological change alone is clearly insufficient to secure workers’ rights. Future research should prioritize improving working conditions alongside efforts to reduce emissions and improve air quality.