Developments and Trends in the New International Division of Labour

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the major changes in the patterns of the New International Division of Labour that have occurred during the past two decades. The paper takes as its starting point the seminal study of Frobel (1980) and his colleagues. The paper identifies three categories of changes to the NIDL: the changing spatial patterns of the division of labour over the past two decades, changes to the nature of the production patterns of Transnational Corporations and changes to the location and nature of NIDL labour processes. The paper examines how the concepts of ‘core’ and ‘periphery’ can also be applied within specific global industries. The paper seeks to identify some of the effects of these changing patterns upon the working lives of ‘workers in an integrating world’ (World Bank, 1995). The paper finds both that Frobel’s work is deficient in certain respects, and that aspects of the work are still relevant today. ∗ I am grateful to Martin Barrett, Michael Wood and Mike Rigby for their comments on earlier drafts of this paper, and to Gabrielle Reid for her skills in executing the diagrams and the presentation.