A shoe company's production centres have moved from country to country over the decades. Identify the pattern of labour this illustrates. Which of the following describes it?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Routine manufacturing production and employment is increasingly done in Third World cities
Option (1) Routine manufacturing production and employment is increasingly done in First World cities — Incorrect. This reverses the pattern. Routine factory work moves out of First World cities to places where labour is cheaper; Nike, for example, had only two US factories ever.
Option (2) Routine manufacturing production and employment is increasingly done in Third World cities — Correct. This is the new international division of labour: more and more routine manufacturing and jobs are done in Third World cities. A shoe firm moving from Japan to South Korea, then to Thailand, Indonesia and India, shows this pattern.
Option (3) Routine manufacturing production and employment is increasingly done in rural Third World areas — Incorrect. The new pattern places routine work in Third World cities. Rural areas are linked to global firms in other ways, such as contract farming.
Option (4) Routine manufacturing production and employment is increasingly done in rural First World areas — Incorrect. Rural First World areas are not cheap-labour sites, and routine production is not moving there. It moves to Third World cities.
NCERT (2026-27): “Globalisation and a ew International Division of Labour “… In the 1960s they were made in Japan. As costs increased production shifted to South Korea in mid-1970s. Labour costs grew in South Korea, so in the 1980s production widened to Thailand and Indonesia. Since the 1990s we in India produce Nike. However, if labour is cheaper elsewhere production centres will move somewhere else. …” |