Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
development between the North and South in the 1990s, it is increas-
ingly argued that the contemporary division of labour has started to
cut across these traditional divides. Part-time, unregulated and
low-paid jobs also characterize sectors of advanced economies while
due to the importance of the emerging BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India,
China and South Africa) and the resulting multi-polarity taking place
in international development, South-South investment in export
industries has increased. Furthermore, rates of internationalization
and FDI are slowing down, resulting in widespread factory closures,
redundancies and unemployment, which will serve to reconfigure
labour markets once more. As the gendered implications of the global
recession are only just becoming apparent, it looks as though the dev-
astating impact of the retrenchment of global export production on
livelihoods and workers' rights looks set to frame development agen-
das over the next decade.
key
points
130
•
Global work and employment patterns have undergone a multidi-
mensional restructuring as a result of the internationalization of
economic production. As a result, many workers in the global South
have become increasingly linked to the 'footloose' global networks
of MNCs.
•
The promotion of export-oriented manufacturing in the global South,
combined with technological advances and the demand for cheaper,
unregulated labour by firms, provided the impetus for what became
known as the New International Division of Labour (NIDL)
and,
more recently, has been labelled by some commentators as the
'
Global Division of Labour'.
•
One of the key characteristics of the NIDL has been the widespread
feminization of the labour force in export factories and home-based
or outputting work in global supply chains.
•
In seeking to understand the impact of the global division of labour
on poorer nations in the South, it is important to remember that the
outcomes of economic globalization are geographically uneven and
embedded in local social processes. While export industries have
provided jobs and new employment opportunities for some workers,
they have exacerbated the vulnerability and exploitation of others
through the deregulation of labour standards.
