Will international buyers leave Cambodia for countries with lower labour standards and wages?
In a 2004 World Bank survey, Cambodia’s key overseas buyers rate labour standards as a top priority in their decision to source from a country and consider Cambodia to have an advantage over Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam and China. The survey also found that almost 80% of buyers consider auditing of labour standards to be critical after the end of quotas and have given high marks to the ILO’s monitoring. Buyers, accounting for 45% of Cambodia’s garment trade, said they intend to increase or maintain current sourcing levels even after the MFA expires. More than 60 per cent of surveyed buyers said that factories’ compliance with labour standards was of equal or greater importance to them than price, quality and lead-time to market. Buyers state that improved labour standards have a positive effect on accident rates, workplace productivity, product quality, worker turnover and absenteeism.
