Decent wages in global production networks: Lessons learned from the Indonesian apparel industry

Despite growing engagement in global production networks (GPNs), the Indonesian apparel sector is still struggling to ensure decent wages. This study makes a particular attempt to clarify the close links between decent wages and a firm’s engagement in GPNs in the country’s apparel industry. More specifically, this paper examines the real wages and adequate wages of production workers within the decent wages framework in the country’s apparel sector with the expansion of GPNs and finds that the deepening engagement of the industry in GPNs has been accompanied by wage increases for betteroff workers. Nevertheless, while the country’s apparel industry is increasingly engaging in GPN, production workers are less likely to benefit from it.