Last year Gap Inc. was the first U.S. retailer to return to Myanmar for its apparel manufacture, a major sign of the potential return of the country’s once-thriving garment industry.
But demonstrations by labor unions over working conditions and pay have hampered progress in the three years since U.S. sanctions were lifted, after which Myanmar also attempted its first minimum wage boost.
Even with the increase in minimum wage that is apparently acceptable to most labor groups and factory owners, Myanmar will still have among the lowest wages in the world. And its standards for factory conditions are seen as lower than in Bangladesh, the site one of the deadliest garment factory collapses in history.
The government was under pressure not to raise the wage too high out of fear that retailers would turn to South Korea, China, and other countries with established manufacturing. The wage is for eight-hour days in a six-day week; it doesn’t address overtime pay or working conditions. Last year Myanmar exported $1.5 billion of clothes and materials, up from $1.2 billion in 2013 and $947 million in 2012, according to the Global Trade Atlas.
Still, the stability and the raise, if slight, is seen as an encouragement to more investment by U.S. and other apparel retailers, which can now count on an official wage structure to help them determine costs. Gap and H&M already source goods from there. The country’s economy is predicted to grow 8% this year, according to the World Bank.