Fair trade And Workers’ Welfare: A Case Study Of the Soccer Industry In Pakistan

The resurgence of the debate on standardization of labor laws via trade has bought into focus the importance of social labeling programs. Social Labeling programs like fairtrade are seen as adesirable avenue to remedy the weak labor laws in ‘South’. Fairtrade is a social labeling program that aims to fight poverty, injustices and hence improve the livelihoods of producers and workersin ‘South’ throughits predefined code of conduct and standards.The fairtrade standard for hired labor, in particular, aims to fight the labor market injustices existing in the ‘South’. Numerous studies have been undertaken to assessthe impact of fairtrade upon the lives of producers and workers. Mixed results have been documented especially for coffee and banana producers. In view of the growing importance of the demands for standardization of labor laws, it is hence imperative to study the impact of theprogram on rectifying the weak labor laws and improving the livelihoods of the workers fora labor abundant country like Pakistan. This study uses the football industry of Pakistan as a case in point and aims to quantify the impact of the fairtrade labeling program on the workers’ socioeconomic status and welfare position. Propensity Score Matching (PSM) is used to calculate the treatment effect of the program. The study finds notreatment effect of labeling upon the socio economic status and welfare condition of the workers. It concludes that overall the program fails to make an impact upon the lives of workers employed in the football industry. Supervisor:- Dr Musleh-Ud-Din

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Author: Javeria Younas Abbasi
Supervisor: Musleh ud Din

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