Can labor provisions in trade agreements promote gender equality? Empirical evidence from Cambodia

Abstract

In recent years, an increasing number of regional and bilateral trade agreements have emerged that include provisions on labor standards. The claimed purpose of these labor provisions is to improve working conditions in developing and emerging economies. However, little is known about whether such provisions actually do impact working conditions. This paper conducts an econometric study on the effectiveness of labor provisions in trade agreements. In particular, we evaluate the impact of the 1999 Bilateral Textile Agreement between Cambodia and the United States (CUSBTA) on both the gender wage gap and discrimination. The agreement combined the incentive of higher exports with the obligation of textile manufacturers to comply with international core labor standards, which include the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation. Using data from the Cambodia Socioeconomic Survey and applying a difference-in-difference estimation, we find a statistically significant reduction of the gender wage gap in the textile sector that can be attributed to the CUSBTA. | INTRODUCTIONEfforts to promote global trade on the multilateral level through the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) have not produced much progress over the last decade. At the same time, the number of regional and bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) has increased significantly. While the proliferation of FTAs has been well documented (see, for example, Egger and Larch, 2008;Baldwin, 2012;Kohl, Brakman, and Garretsen, 2016;ILO, 2016), less attention has been given to the fact DOI: 10.1111 that a rising number of North-South agreements contain certain legal clauses on labor standards (so-called "labor provisions"). 1The purpose of the inclusion of labor provisions is usually the claim that minimum standards on labor are needed to share the benefits of globalization with the workforce in developing countries through higher wages and better working conditions. Besides the long-standing theoretical arguments for or against labor provisions in FTAs, and whether they promote development or are hidden forms of protectionism, 2 another important question remains unanswered: there exists basically no empirical evidence on whether labor provisions actually have an effect on working conditions in developing countries when included in a trade agreement or not. There are several reasons for this lack of empirical evidence. Firstly, while the theoretical debate about the potential impact of labor provisions is quite old, the actual inclusion of labor provisions in trade agreements is a relative new phenomenon. In most of these cases, there is simply not enough data available to conduct such empirical analysis. Secondly, labor provisions in trade agreements are quite diverse and may affect a variety of working conditions in different ways, which, in turn, would make it difficult to generalize their potential impacts on working conditions. Instead, analyses need to be made for specific working conditions that can be measured. Finally, there ex...

Évaluer l'efficacité des dispositions relatives au travail figurant dans les accords commerciaux: cadre analytique et méthodologique

“…Cet accord, en vigueur de 1999 à 2005, avait ceci de particulier qu'il conditionnait l'élargissement de l'accès au marché pour les entreprises du secteur de l'habillement tournées vers l'exportation au Cambodge à un contrôle systématique des conditions de travail dans leurs usines (Polaski, 2009;Wells, 2006). S'il prévoyait des mesures préalables à la ratification et des programmes de coopération technique, il était surtout axé, à l'évidence, sur la capacité des entreprises, en particulier leur capacité d'engagement et d'action, et accordait une moins grande priorité à d'autres domaines, tels que la capacité technique de l'État (López Mourelo et Samaan, 2018).…”

“…Dans ce contexte, la question de l'efficacité de ces dispositions 3 suscite toujours plus d'intérêt et retient l'attention des chercheurs, qui abordent le sujet sous des angles divers, examinant le rôle des mécanismes de règlement des différends et l'issue des requêtes déposées par des tierces parties dans le cadre de divers accords (voir par exemple Nolan García, 2010;BIT, 2013;Vogt, 2014;Bazillier et Rana, 2015), l'impact de ces dispositions sur les droits au travail et les conditions de travail (Heintz et Luce, 2010;López Mourelo et Samaan, 2018;Marx et Soares, 2015a), les changements institutionnels et organisationnels concernant l'application des normes du travail (BIT, 2013;Dewan et Ronconi, 2014;Oehri, 2015;Ebert, 2016) et le rôle des acteurs de la société civile (Van den Putte, 2015a ;Orbie, Martens et Van den Putte, 2016;Raess, Dür et Sari, 2018) 4 . Les approches adoptées varient également.…”

“…Les approches adoptées varient également. Si Häberli, Jansen et Monteiro (2012), Kim (2012), Postnikov et Bastiaens (2014), Marx et Soares (2015a), Bazillier et Rana (2015), López Mourelo et Samaan (2018) et Raess, Dür et Sari (2018) ont opté pour l'analyse statistique, d'autres (BIT, 2013;Vogt, 2014;Van den Putte, 2015a;Oehri, 2015;Orbie, Martens et Van den Putte, 2016;Ebert, 2016;Campling et coll., 2016) ont préféré une approche plus qualitative. La littérature consacrée à ce thème a ainsi traité la question sous différents angles et suggéré, implicitement ou explicitement, diverses approches méthodologiques, qui diffèrent par la façon de définir et de mesurer l'efficacité dans ce contexte.…”

Evaluating the effectiveness of labour provisions in trade agreements: An analytical and methodological framework

“…These developments have sparked an increased interest in the effectiveness of labour provisions, 3 generating research into various aspects of effectiveness, including the role of dispute settlement mechanisms and the success of third-party petitions under various agreements (e.g. Nolan García, 2010;ILO, 2013;Vogt, 2014;Bazillier and Rana, 2015), the impact on specific labour rights and working conditions (Heintz and Luce, 2010;López Mourelo and Samaan, 2018;Marx and Soares, 2015a), institutional and organizational changes concerning labour enforcement (ILO, 2013;Dewan and Ronconi, 2014;Oehri, 2015;Ebert, 2016), and the role of civil society actors (Van den Putte, 2015a ;Orbie, Martens and Van den Putte, 2016;Raess, Dür and Sari, 2018). 4 Furthermore, researchers have adopted various methodological approaches.…”

Evaluación de la eficacia de las disposiciones laborales de los acuerdos comerciales: marco analítico y metodológico

“…Estos acontecimientos han aumentado el interés en la eficacia de las disposiciones laborales 3 y han dado lugar a investigaciones sobre diversos aspectos de la misma, entre otros, el papel de los mecanismos de solución de controversias y la efectividad de las peticiones de terceras partes en relación con los diversos acuerdos (por ejemplo, Nolan García, 2010;OIT, 2015;Vogt, 2014;Bazillier y Rana, 2015); los efectos sobre determinados derechos y condiciones laborales (Heintz y Luce, 2010;López Mourelo y Samaan, 2018;Marx y Soares, 2015a); los cambios institucionales y organizacionales relacionados con el control del cumplimiento de la legislación laboral (OIT, 2015;Dewan y Ronconi, 2014;Oehri, 2015;Ebert, 2016); y el papel de los actores de la sociedad civil 4 (Van den Putte, 2015a; Orbie, Martens y Van den Putte, 2016; Raess, Dür y Sari, 2018). Además, los investigadores han utilizado diferentes propuestas metodológicas.…”