An Analysis of Socioeconomic Conditions of Street Vendors: A Study on Dhaka City

Abstract

Street vendors play a significant role to fulfill the demands of urban dwellers in Dhaka – the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. This paper attempts to gain insight into the businesses of street vendors as well as their impacts on our society. A large number of people are directly and indirectly engaged with this profession and are contributing to the economy of Bangladesh. Three ideas constitute the central message of this study. Firstly, a large number of people are generating income through street vending which helps them and their families. Secondly, street vendors are a source of employment as they occupy a large part of informal sector in Dhaka city. Thirdly, street vendors offer intense services for the city dwellers within reasonable cost range. But because of street vendors, some unfavorable effects are also visible such as lack of formalization and weak management system, which create problems in urban areas by producing street garbage and gathering crowd on the footpath. By the implementation of proper public management system, street vendors would become a role model for urban dwellers of Dhaka city.