Sewing in the sand: how trade preferences created, and labor abuses nearly killed, the Jordanian garment industry

Jordan's decision to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1994 promised to bring the significant economic gain. Through the extension by the United States of trade benefits, and eventually the signing of free trade agreement, tariff conditions were created that led to the development of an export oriented garment industry in a country that had no apparent comparative advantage in garment manufacturing. An unanticipated consequence of this development was a lack of Jordanian labor supply and the importation of migrant workers who toiled under exploitative conditions. This chapter describes the rise, and near fall, of Jordan's garment industry. It is a case study of how well-intended trade benefits unintentionally helped create an environment ripe for abusive labor conditions, and how a novel supply chain labor program run by the ILO and International Finance Corporation helped play a part in saving it.