Q1. [3] deep thorough-understanding
Suppose you investigate the garment export industry in your city and find that most workers are hired on short-term contracts, work extremely long hours, and earn lower wages than workers in the same industry did twenty years ago. Using what you know about how globalisation affects employment, explain the chain of economic pressures that leads to these working conditions.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · 2026-06-26 13:30 · grounding rag
Model Answer
Large MNCs in Europe and America seek the cheapest goods to maximise profits. To secure these orders, Indian garment exporters are forced to cut labour costs since raw material costs cannot be reduced.
This leads to a chain of pressures:
- Exporters hire workers on temporary/short-term contracts to avoid paying for the full year.
- Workers are made to put in very long hours and night shifts, especially during peak season.
- Wages remain low — often lower than what permanent workers earned earlier — forcing workers to do overtime just to survive.
Thus, competition among exporters benefits MNCs with large profits, while workers bear the burden and are denied their fair share of globalisation's benefits.
Source: Chapter 4 — Competition and Uncertain Employment
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Explanation
- The examiner expects you to trace the chain: MNC pressure → exporter cuts costs → workers suffer (temporary jobs, long hours, low wages). All three outcomes must appear.
- Use the Sushila example or the garment industry example from the textbook to support your points — examiners reward textbook-grounded answers.
- Key terms to include: flexibility in employment, temporary contracts, labour costs, competition.
- Avoid vague statements like "globalisation is bad" — stick to the economic chain of cause and effect.