Just Jobs in Global Value Chains: Inclusive Industrialization for ASEAN

Employment is the cornerstone of ‘inclusive industrialization’ – an explicit goal of Sustainable Development Goal #9. This research project will assess how participation in global value chains (GVCs) affects the quantity and quality of employment in the ASEAN region.  By examining GVC participation through a sectoral lens of the electronics sectors in Vietnam and Thailand, and the apparel sectors in Vietnam and Myanmar, it will explore how firm and worker characteristics vary at different stages of production. Disaggregating supply chain participation by gender will further shed light on whether women have equal access to higher-value-added activities within supply chains.

To highlight what ‘inclusive industrialization’ means in practice and what policy approach will promote GVC participation in line with this idea, this research endeavour will collect primary data on the goals that different stakeholders – governments, firms and workers – seek to achieve through GVC participation, and whether GVC participation has delivered on their expectations to date.

Supported by the International Development Research Center, this project commenced in September 2016 and is a two-and-a-half-year research effort.