GWC Report Studies WTO, Jobs

The Los Angeles apparel industry faces a crisis as more production shifts overseas and companies prepare for the termination of World Trade Organization apparel and textile quotas in 2005, according to a report released by the Garment Worker Center.

The Los Angeles–based watchdog agency said in a Nov. 10 study that job loss is likely to accelerate as a result of the end of WTO quotas.

Apparel is a $24.3 billion industry in California, and 14 percent of L.A. manufacturing workers are employed in the apparel industry.

Other findings included:

bull; From 2001–2003, a review of 200 case records showed that some workers, on average, earned $3.28 an hour and worked 52 hours a week.

bull; Raising many garment workers’ hourly wages to the state minimum wage of $6.75 would generate an additional $358 million for the economy, which could trickle down to generate nearly 3,000 jobs in other industries in Los Angeles.

bull; The number of cut-and-sew apparel workers in L.A. County fell to 62,600 in 2004, down 27 percent from 85,200 in 1990, according to the California Employment Development Department. —Khanh T.L. Tran