Trade liberalization has plunged the textile and clothing industry in many countries -both in the developed and developing world -into a crisis with important employment losses. Important differences across countries exist regarding the extent of decline, the productivity performance, and the working conditions for the remaining workers in this industry. Based on elements of global commodity chain analysis and the varieties of capitalism (VoC) approach, these different patterns have been explained for developed countries, placing particular emphasis on the scope and effective implementation of industry-wide minimum wages and labour regulations, as well as on retail concentration.In this article, we apply the above framework to Chile, where the process of downsizing of the industry has followed the least virtuous pattern, with meagre productivity results and precarization of remaining employment. Part of the remaining textile and clothing employment has moved to the informal economy and sweatshop-type enterprises. This outcome is explained by the high degree of retail concentration in Chile, the virtual absence of sectoral collective bargaining and the partial coverage of labour inspection among micro and small enterprises.

Is globalization good for workers? Many scholars have surprisingly clear-cut answers. "Globalization is good for workers," say most economists. "Globalization is bad for workers," say most sociologists, anthropologists, and historians. This article takes a more cautious approach, defining first the different dimensions of employment quality which can be measured in order to track changes (Section 2). In a second step, it reviews some of the mechanisms through which globalization could either benefit or harm workers, both through changes in labor demand and new patterns of work organization in response to globalization (Section 3). Thirdly, the paper presents summaries of statistical data and existing studies of Latin-American countries (Section 4). Finally, in order to understand some of the more qualitative aspects of the impact of globalization on labor, Section 5 presents evidence from sectoral case studies for one Latin-American country, Chile. Section 6 concludes.

This article uses nine case studies of global supply chains (GSCs) in Southern Cone countries to explore the extent to which economic and social upgrading are linked and spread from lead firms to their supply chain. While economic and social upgrading are found in lead firm segments throughout the case studies, the impacts on suppliers are varied. Pattern groupings enable the authors to develop a three‐part typology of development in GSCs, in the light of which they consider the roles of public policies, company behaviour and social actors in addressing developmental outcomes for GSC lead firms and suppliers.

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