Employment Effects of Jamuna Bridge in Bangladesh

In this study we evaluate the impact of Jamuna multipurpose bridge (JMB) on jobs in Bangladesh. JMB is the ever largest bridge in Bangladesh, as well as the largest physical infrastructure in the history of the country, which was built and inaugurated in 1998 to provide the first road and rail link between the relatively less-developed Northwest region of the country and the more-developed Eastern half that includes the capital of Dhaka. We particularly focus on labour market integration effect of JMB using survey data from 2009 that provides information on current, as well as retrospective assessment of household situation in the adjacent districts. Using a quasi-experimental framework of the canonical difference-indifference regression methodology, we analyse the impact of this physical infrastructure on jobs and livelihood improvement of households in two adjacent districts connected by the bridge and found that the bridge construction facilitated farm to non-farm shift of employments along with decreasing household unemployment. We also find that such impacts are heterogeneous across age, gender and education level. The study findings should inform government’s policy makers on broader impacts of physical infrastructure on expansion of employment opportunities and thus help formulating evidence-based policy making on local infrastructure and labour outcomes.