Stitches to Riches? Apparel Employment, Trade, and Economic Development in South Asia

This report is aimed at better informing that debate by demystifying the global and South Asian apparel markets, estimating the potential gains in exports and jobs (including for women), and identifying policies that can unleash South Asia’s export and job potential. Our sample South Asian countries—the SAR group of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka—are the largest apparel exporters. Our sample Southeast Asian benchmark countries (hereafter the “SEAB group”) are Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Given that the extent to which these countries will be able to create more jobs will depend on the individual decisions of their firms and workers, we concentrate on how changes in the global market (like rising apparel prices in China) could affect exports, wages, and employment in the apparel sector in other countries.