ABSTRACT
Women remaining in full-time manufacturing jobs. Among those workers who remained in manufacturing (27.9% of die entire sample), the majority (63%) were in the textiles and apparel industries, with a substantial minority (17.3%) in basic metal and machinery industries (mainly electronics). Close to half (52%) of the workers had moved from one factory to another at least once in the past five years and another 37% changed firms more than once, reflecting the instability of the manufacturing sector. Factory relocation (to China or elsewhere) caused 33.3% of our respondents to change factories, followed by plant closure (20.3%) and slack work (15.9%). The fluid employment situation of those who remain in manufacturing is illustrated by the case of Yuk-fu (35), a packing worker in a printing factory (all interviewee names are fictitious). She immigrated from mainland China in 1980 and is now the mother of three school-age children. Over the past 15 years, she has worked in factories making watches, toys, and stationery, and also did a stint as a salesperson before shifting to this printing factory. When asked whether her present job was temporary or permanent she replied:
I don't think it can last. Sooner or later, my department will disappear. Our boss has told the four of us in the packing section 'either I don't give you a pay raise or I close this department.' All because he has opened a factory in China. . . . We replied, 'If you like, you can dismiss us (and compensate us with severance payment). . . .' Therefore, he gave us a $5 per day pay raise and fired a worker who has worked for him for nine years. . . . because it seems a new legislation is to come out and he's afraid that we would meet the 10-year qualifying condition for more compensation payment.
