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Competitiveness of the Garment Industry in Pakistan with Particular Focus on Piece Rate Workers

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Globalization, Employment and Mobility

Part of the book series: IDE-JETRO Series ((IDE))

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Abstract

When the Multi-fibre Arrangement (MFA) was phased out on 1 January 2005, textile and garment1 exporters in World Trade Organization (WTO) member countries in principle became subject to tough competition in the non-quota market (WTO 1996; Raffaelli 1998; Nordås 2004). Before 2005, there was concern about the possible negative impact of the MFA phase-out in countries such as Bangladesh that believed they were protected by the quota regime (Bhattacharya and Rahman 2001: 9–12). Since January 2005, however, Bangladesh has continued to perform well. There are several explanations for this performance such as: (1) that the effect of MFA phase-out was and still is limited because China agreed to export restrictions on textile and garment products to the US and EU in 2005 (Yamagata 2006),2 (2) that international textile and garment buyers would not import exclusively from China in order to diversify risks (Saxena and Wiebe 2005), or (3) that more time is needed to truly assess the effects of phasing out the MFA.

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Authors
  1. Momoe Makino
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Editor information

Hiroshi Sato (Former Director of the Area Studies Department at IDE)Mayumi Murayama (Senior Research Fellow at IDE-JETRO)

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© 2008 Institute of Developing Economies (IDE), JETRO

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Makino, M. (2008). Competitiveness of the Garment Industry in Pakistan with Particular Focus on Piece Rate Workers. In: Sato, H., Murayama, M. (eds) Globalization, Employment and Mobility. IDE-JETRO Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230227750_4

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