The Global Division of Labour and Migration: Gpe (GW)

THE GLOBAL DIVISION OF LABOUR AND
MIGRATION
GPE (GW)
LECTURE OUTLINE
 Changes in the Production Process

 Globalising Elites
 Migration Movements
 Restructuring
 Global Instability ?
HOW DO PEOPLE FIT INTO THE PRODUCTION
PROCESS?
 specialization
 quality of life/life expectancy
 inequalities (measurement)
 Based on Race, Gender, Ethnicity, Class

or Merit (market forces)?
 International vs. global division of labour

= production/exporting confined to countries
and/or geographic location
ADAM SMITH AND HIS CRITICS
Improvement in productivity due to further division of labour

= (natural process ≠ alienation)
 New products (natural propensity)
 ‘Self love’ (self-interest)
 Habit, custom and education (skills)
 wealth trickles down to the lowest members of society
But:
division of labour shaped by power relations:
imperialism, strategic state interests, patriarchy
F. Braudel: ‘past always counts’
Examples:
 slave trade, textile industry, tax havens
 small/large states shaping comparative advantage
CHANGES IN THE PRODUCTION PROCESS
 Taylorism
= management control over worker time
 Fordism (post-1945)
= standardization  mass consumption + mass
production, accompanied by redistribution & welfare
state policies
 Post-Fordism (‘Toyotaism’, 1980s)
= flexible specialization, lean production, just-in-time
 Mixed-Hybrid system (today) value chains, ‘just safe’
GLOBALIZING ELITES? (R. SENNET)
 At best 15% of world population engaged in a ‘global labour market’

 Particualr groups that benefit from liberalization and integration (Nylon)
R. Rogowski: ‘Commerce and Coalitions’
D. Rothkopf: ‘Superclass’
S. Gill: ‘Transnational Capitalist Class’)
 specific political, economic, cultural orientations

 global economic activity and lifestyles
 TNC executives, bureaucrats, ‘econocrats’, traders, media officials
 Task for whom? - balance open global economy with social stability?
 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
NEW ALLIANCES OF MARGINALISED GROUPS ?
MIGRATION MOVEMENTS
 3% of the world’s population (150 Mio.)

 Permanent settlers, contract workers, TNC employees,
refugees, asylum seekers, illegal immigrants …
 Vital for developed countries:
 Shrinking populations
 Aging population  maintenance of welfare systems
 Social tensions/migration control & management
 (Green Cards, Blue Cards)
INFLOWS OF FOREIGN POPULATION BY
NATIONALITY - UNITED KINGDOM (THOUSANDS)
INFLOWS OF FOREIGN POPULATION BY NATIONALITY
GERMANY (THOUSANDS)
GLOBAL MIGRATION COMPACT
 New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, which recognizes that migrants and
refugees may face many common challenges and similar vulnerabilities (Preamble).
 This Global Compact refers to migrants and presents a cooperative framework

addressing migration in all its dimensions.
 Roots in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
 a non-legally binding, cooperative framework that builds on the commitments agreed

upon by Member States in the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants.
COMMODIFICATION OF MIGRATION?
 Opportunities for private business and out-sourcing of public

functions in migration management and control.
 Governments have deliberately shifted certain functions and

services toward private entities to rationalise governance.
 Externalisation of costs and risks related to the matching of

supply and demand for migrant labour.
THE DUAL STRUCTURE OF LABOUR
MARKETS
 In industrialized countries: a primary sector with secure jobs and a secondary sector with
insecure jobs.
 Insecure jobs in industry, construction, or agriculture. Demand fluctuates widely due to

seasonal factors or business cycles.
 Industrial restructuring in western countries, which involves subcontracting to smaller firms to

reduce costs and compete with cheap imports.
 Firms use outsourcing to smaller firms as a way to avoid works council and trade union power.
 ‘Downgraded’ manufacturing sector with an increasing role for ethnic business using regular or
irregular migrants.
HR OFFICER, FOOD PROCESSING PLANT,
RURAL ENGLAND:
 ‘We don’t even know what production is going to be like next

week because we are so dependent on the weather and
customer orders so the number of people we need changes
constantly. So we have about 500 permanent people and we
use an agency to top-up our numbers whenever we need them
during the high production spells…we contact the agency and
they get the people in at very short notice and then they take
them away again when production slows and that’s better for
us than hiring then making people redundant all the time’.
‘MIGRATION INDUSTRY’
 Individuals and organisations enabling migration:

 money lenders,
 lawyers,
 recruiters,
 transportation providers,
 travel agents,
 smugglers.
 The ensemble of entrepreneurs who, motivated by the pursuit of financial gain,

provide a variety of services facilitating human mobility across international
borders.
GLOBAL RESTRUCTURING (BRICS)
China:
 Large share of FDI (negotiation with TNCs)
 Special Economic Zones (urban-rural gap)
 Suppression of labour rights
 ‘Assembly plant’ for other Asian countries
India:
 Offshore, outsourcing of service jobs
 Work pattern determined elsewhere
 Politicization of low-skilled labour
 Rising insecurity among neighbours
KEY QUESTIONS
a) How to regulate (rather than democratise) capital?

b) What is the appropriate relationship between social partners
across the globe?
 Extraterritorial regulation through powerful states (rules of the home state)
 Multilateral arrangements through standards (IOs)
 International Labour Movement
  labour standards in the WTO (from ILO)
 Freedom of association
 Collective bargaining
 Abolition of forced labour
 Prevention of discrimination
 Minimum age for employment
But: strong resistance by liberal states, developing countries,

business association (protectionism)
… OTHER WAYS TO INFLUENCE CORPORATE
BEHAVIOUR (ALTERNATIVES TO REGULATION)?
Self-regulation
Voluntary codes of conduct
‘global compact’
... STILL OTHER WAYS?
 Civil society activism

 Campaigns to raise consumer awareness
 Social & eco-labelling
 second-best solutions
GLOBAL INSTABILITY ?
 Linkage between labour movement and political systems (peace and security)
 Regional integration schemes
 Possibility for international solidarity and assistance (alliance and network

building)
 Social movements
 Changing agenda of international and regional institutions

 ILO, WTO, IMF
 Resistance to the neo-liberalization project ?

 A post-Washington consensus ?
 Revitalization of multilateralism ?

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THE GLOBAL DIVISION OF LABOUR AND

 Changes in the Production Process

 Based on Race, Gender, Ethnicity, Class

 International vs. global division of labour

Improvement in productivity due to further division of labour

 At best 15% of world population engaged in a ‘global labour market’

 specific political, economic, cultural orientations

 3% of the world’s population (150 Mio.)

 This Global Compact refers to migrants and presents a cooperative framework

 Roots in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

 a non-legally binding, cooperative framework that builds on the commitments agreed

 Opportunities for private business and out-sourcing of public

 Governments have deliberately shifted certain functions and

 Externalisation of costs and risks related to the matching of

 Insecure jobs in industry, construction, or agriculture. Demand fluctuates widely due to

 Industrial restructuring in western countries, which involves subcontracting to smaller firms to

 ‘We don’t even know what production is going to be like next

 Individuals and organisations enabling migration:

 The ensemble of entrepreneurs who, motivated by the pursuit of financial gain,

a) How to regulate (rather than democratise) capital?

But: strong resistance by liberal states, developing countries,

 Civil society activism

 Possibility for international solidarity and assistance (alliance and network

 Changing agenda of international and regional institutions

 Resistance to the neo-liberalization project ?

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