The Employment Impacts of Trade Liberalisation and of Increased Competition in Export Markets

This paper addresses the employment impacts of increased competition in the clothing sectors of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. While drawing on secondary sources it also reports findings from three tracer surveys of individuals who have been dismissed from jobs within the clothing sector. Our findings conform broadly to other reports of the employment impacts of economic restructuring in contexts of market liberalisation: there is evidence both of some labour market churning and of increased informalisation of employment; both self-employment and unemployment have risen and while some of the self-employed report that they are now better off, there is also evidence of increased hardship among some dismissed workers and their households. Our prognosis for the clothing sector in North Africa is that it will be unable to resume the role of leading sector in the expansion of manufacturing output, of low skilled employment and of exports. Significant reductions in unemployment now require the implementation of employment-oriented growth strategies for these economies which extend beyond the clothing sector to agriculture, other branches of manufacturing and to services

Business · Churning · Clothing · Competition (biology · Economic growth · Economics · Economy · International economics · Labour economics · Liberalization · Market economy · Political science · Restructuring · Tertiary sector of the economy · Unemployment · Employment and Welfare Studies · Global trade and economics · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact

• Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labour

  Open Access•W Arthur Lewis•Manchester School•1954

  Incluir item

• Employment and Unemployment in Jordan

  Open Access•Rebecca Miles•World Development•2002

  Incluir item

• Development trajectories and new comparative advantages

  Open Access•Diego Sánchez‐ancochea, Diego Sánchez-Ancochea•World Development•2006

  Incluir item

• Water Scarcity and Food Import

  Open Access•Hong Yang, Alexander J B Zehnder•World Development•2002

  Incluir item

• Beyond export-led growth

  Open Access•Irma Adelman•World Development•1984

  Incluir item

• Can the East Asian model of development be generalized

  Open Access•William R Cline•World Development•1982

  Incluir item

• V-Goods and the Role of the Urban Informal Sector in Development

  Gustav Ranis, F Stewart•Economic Development and Cultural…•1999

  Incluir item

• Implications of the free trade agreements between the EU and the Maghrib economies for employment in the latter, given current trends in North African exports

  Diana Hunt•The Journal of North African…•2005

  Incluir item