AP Syllabus focus:
‘An international division of labor has grown, with many developing countries taking on lower-paying industrial work.’
Global economic restructuring has expanded a worldwide division of labor, assigning high-value activities to wealthier regions while shifting low-paying industrial tasks toward developing countries seeking employment opportunities.
The International Division of Labor
The international division of labor refers to the spatial reorganization of economic activities across countries, where different places specialize in particular stages of production. This system intensifies as globalization connects firms, workers, and markets across borders. It is rooted in the spread of industrialization, improvements in transportation and communication, and the rise of global supply chains.
How Global Production Became Spatially Specialized
The expansion of transnational corporations (TNCs) and lower transportation costs have enabled production processes to be broken into smaller, geographically dispersed steps. These steps are then allocated to regions that can perform them most efficiently or most cheaply.
• Core countries concentrate on high-skill, high-wage, and capital-intensive activities such as research, design, corporate management, and advanced manufacturing.
• Semiperiphery and periphery countries increasingly perform low-wage, labor-intensive manufacturing tasks such as textile assembly, electronics assembly, or basic component production.
• The international division of labor reflects unequal development, reinforcing existing economic hierarchies through differentiated roles in global production networks.
Common examples include garment, electronics, and toy assembly, where workers in developing countries sew, solder, or package items designed and marketed elsewhere.
Garment workers in Bangladesh operate sewing machines in a large factory dedicated to export production. This scene exemplifies labor-intensive, low-wage manufacturing that links peripheral economies to global consumer markets. The image includes more detail than the syllabus requires, such as specific factory conditions, but its main focus is the spatial concentration of low-paying industrial work. Source.
Globalization and the Rise of Low-Paying Work
As firms seek to minimize costs, they often relocate production to developing regions where wages are lower, labor protections weaker, or regulations less strict. This shift has generated large pools of industrial employment in Asia, Latin America, and parts of Africa. The trend is a direct expression of the AP specification: many developing countries take on low-paying industrial work because it fits their labor supply and economic structure.
Low-paying work is usually tied to:
• Labor-intensive production requiring many workers but little formal training.
• Export-processing zones (EPZs) or special economic zones (SEZs) offering tax incentives and relaxed regulations.
• TNC-driven supply chains that prioritize cost efficiency over worker welfare.
Characteristics of Low-Paying Industrial Work
Low-paying industrial work in global production networks displays several common features that shape the economic development of participating countries.
Labor Conditions
Workers in these sectors frequently experience:
• Long hours and repetitive tasks
• Low wages compared to living costs
• Limited union rights or bargaining power
• Low job security due to subcontracting or temporary contracts
These conditions are partly the result of competition among developing countries for foreign investment.
Industrial Location Dynamics
Manufacturers select locations for low-paying work based on labor availability, resource access, and regulatory environments. These factors align closely with least-cost thinking, where reducing labor costs becomes a primary motivation for siting production. Because wages vary dramatically worldwide, companies can significantly lower production costs by offshoring labor-intensive work.
Factors Driving the Global Shift to Developing Countries
The movement of low-paying industrial jobs is driven by both structural and strategic factors in the world economy.
Push and Pull Factors
Pull factors drawing firms to developing countries include:
• Abundant low-cost labor
• Government incentives to attract foreign direct investment
• Trade agreements that facilitate export production
• Growing infrastructure in industrial zones
Push factors from core countries include:
• Rising wages and labor standards
• Saturated manufacturing markets
• Pressure from shareholders to reduce expenditures
These combined forces produce a global pattern in which peripheral and semiperipheral regions become key sites for industrial work, while core regions shift toward services and advanced industries.
At the global scale, the international division of labor reinforces a pattern in which core regions specialize in high-wage, high-skill functions while semiperiphery and periphery regions host low-wage manufacturing and resource extraction.
This world map divides countries into core, semiperipheral, and peripheral regions. Core areas represent innovation-rich, high-wage economies, while peripheral and many semiperipheral regions supply raw materials and low-wage industrial labor. The map includes some broader geopolitical and transport-context details not required by the syllabus but directly supports understanding the spatial organization of low-paying work. Source.
TNC Strategies and Supply Chain Organization
TNCs organize global value chains that assign each country a specific role.
• High-value activities remain in the core (design, branding, headquarters).
• Assembly and low-skill manufacturing move to developing regions.
• Logistics hubs and break-of-bulk points allow goods to flow efficiently through the system.
This arrangement reinforces the spatial division of labor, with each region performing tasks aligned with its economic structure and wage level.
Development Impacts of Low-Paying Industrial Work
Low-paying industrial work can shape development trajectories in complex ways.
Potential Benefits
• Job creation for rapidly growing urban populations
• Increased export revenues
• Opportunities for skill acquisition and gradual technological upgrading
• Growth of supporting service industries (transport, logistics, retail)
Limitations and Risks
Despite these benefits, the international division of labor often reproduces global inequalities.
• Heavy reliance on low-paying work may trap economies in a race to the bottom, where countries compete by lowering wages or weakening labor protections.
• Overdependence on external investment exposes economies to global market fluctuations.
• Limited technological transfer can prevent movement into higher value-added activities.
Changing Patterns and Emerging Trends
Recent shifts in global production highlight the evolving nature of the international division of labor.
Automation and Nearshoring
Automation in core countries reduces the need for labor-intensive work abroad, while nearshoring moves some production closer to major markets. These trends may reduce the dominance of developing regions in certain manufacturing sectors.
Upgrading and Regional Competition
Some developing countries pursue economic upgrading, transitioning from simple assembly to more advanced manufacturing. However, this process is uneven and highly competitive, as new low-cost countries continue to enter the global market and take on the lowest-wage tasks.
These patterns create a highly uneven geography of economic activity, with dense clusters of industrial jobs and services in a few global corridors and much more limited formal employment elsewhere.
This global map overlays night-time city lights with population density to show how economic activity is concentrated in certain regions. Bright clusters in North America, Europe, and East Asia align with core and major semiperipheral economies, while many peripheral regions appear less illuminated despite large populations. The map includes extra details such as topography that extend beyond the syllabus but do not distract from its usefulness in visualizing uneven development. Source.
The Continuing Importance of Low-Paying Work
Despite changes, low-paying industrial work remains central to globalization and development. It continues to define the economic role of many developing countries, illustrating how the international division of labor shapes spatial patterns of industry, employment, and inequality.
FAQ
Industries that depend heavily on manual labour and require minimal formal training are the most likely to relocate. These include garment manufacturing, toy assembly, basic electronics assembly, and low-cost consumer goods production.
Such industries benefit from:
• Large pools of available labour
• Lower operational costs
• The ability to scale quickly through subcontracting networks
Governments often create favourable conditions to draw foreign investors. These may include tax incentives, reduced trade barriers, or designated industrial zones.
Some governments also invest in:
• Upgraded transport and energy infrastructure
• Labour training centres
• Simplified business registration processes
Subcontracting allows firms to minimise financial risk and increase flexibility. They can rapidly adjust production levels without directly employing large workforces.
It also helps companies:
• Avoid responsibility for workplace conditions
• Reduce long-term labour costs
• Shift production between countries as wages or regulations change
Export-oriented industrial zones often emerge near major cities, drawing rural residents seeking employment. This accelerates urban growth and contributes to the expansion of informal settlements.
Over time, this migration can:
• Change household structures
• Increase demand for urban services
• Create new social and economic inequalities
Countries risk becoming locked into low-value activities with limited prospects for technological advancement. This can make future economic upgrading more difficult.
Long-term challenges include:
• Vulnerability to global price competition
• Difficulty establishing domestic innovation
• Underinvestment in education and higher-skill sectors
Practice Questions
Question 1 (1–3 marks)
Explain how the international division of labour contributes to the growth of low-paying industrial work in developing countries.
Mark scheme
• 1 mark for identifying that labour-intensive production is shifted to developing countries.
• 1 mark for explaining that firms seek lower wages and reduced regulation.
• 1 mark for linking this shift to the concentration of low-paying industrial employment in peripheral or semiperipheral regions.
Question 2 (4–6 marks)
Analyse two ways in which participation in low-paying industrial work can influence the economic development of a developing country within the international division of labour.
Mark scheme
• 1–2 marks for clearly identifying two relevant influences (e.g., job creation, export revenue growth, risk of exploitation, dependence on foreign firms).
• 1–2 marks for explaining each influence with accurate geographic reasoning grounded in the international division of labour.
• 1–2 marks for discussing broader development implications (e.g., potential for industrial upgrading, vulnerability to global market fluctuations, limited technological transfer).
