Globalization, Wages, and the Quality of Jobs : Five Country Studies
The country studies in this volume analyze the link between globalization and working conditions in Cambodia, El Salvador, Honduras, Indonesia, and Madagascar. These countries vary significantly in population, economic circumstances, region, histor...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Publication |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000334955_20090811025244 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2654 |
| Summary: | The country studies in this volume
analyze the link between globalization and working
conditions in Cambodia, El Salvador, Honduras, Indonesia,
and Madagascar. These countries vary significantly in
population, economic circumstances, region, history, and
institutions. All have experienced liberalization and
globalization in the last 20 years. The heterogeneity of
these countries provides the basis for a useful comparison
of the effects of globalization on working conditions. As
suggested in the framework, each country study has three
main components: a description of the country's
experience with globalization, a qualitative part that
analyzes country-specific aspects of working conditions, and
an analysis of changes in interindustry wage differentials
(IIWDs) that can be compared across countries. In general,
globalization has been characterized by export-driven
foreign direct investment (FDI) concentrated in relatively
few sectors. Export-driven FDI in the apparel sector plays a
prominent role in each country, although to varying degrees.
In Cambodia, apparel made up 82 percent of all merchandise
exports in 2003. Nearly two-thirds of that total was
destined for the U.S. market. Virtually all factories in the
Cambodian garment sector are foreign owned. Honduras rose
from being the 34th largest supplier of apparel to the
United states (U.S.) market in 1990 to fourth place in 2003.
In 2003, two-thirds of all Honduran exports to the U.S. were
garments and more than 82 percent of all Honduran workers
worked in foreign-owned factories. A similar pattern emerges
for El Salvador. For Madagascar, apparel exports from the
Zone Franche were the primary force behind the
country's remarkable export growth and its transition
from exporting primary products to exporting manufactured
products between 1990 and 2005. By 2001, Madagascar had
become the second most important clothing exporter in
Sub-Saharan Africa as measured by total export value. |
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