States and the Political Economy of Unfree Labour

Figures & data

Table 1. State strategies and unfree labour.

	Conditions of vulnerability		Conditions of profitability
Direct	Directly imposed unfree labour (e.g. prison labour) Non-enforcement of labour legislation and laws prohibiting forced labour, child labour, trafficking Maintenance of migrant work programmes that remove labour rights and protections against forced labour Failure to regulate labour recruitment industry or enforce regulation against abusive labour recruitment practices Differential distribution of labour protections on basis of gender, race, caste, ethnicity, nationality, age, place of birth, etc. Failure to extend sufficient protection to identified victims of forced labour or trafficking, or provide viable employment alternatives		Facilitation of labour recruiters and intermediaries which enable exploitation Facilitation of industries and business practices that lead to systematic abuse Non-enforcement of trade law or ethical norms prohibiting import and export of goods made using unfree labour Non-prosecution of businesses which use forced labour or fail to act proactively to remove forced labour from their supply chains Maintenance of permissive laws or legal ‘loopholes’ facilitating labour exploitation e.g. child labour
Indirect	Restrictive policies governing mobility and migration Labour market policy placing downward pressure on wages and conditions Policies that restrict workers’ rights to organisation and unionisation Education policy governing differential access to education, levels of literacy and development of capabilities Policies which distribute social and labour rights unequally on the basis of gender, race, caste, ethnicity, class, age, nationality, place of birth, etc. Non-enforcement of laws prohibiting discrimination on the above criteria Policies that facilitate the concentration of private ownership of land, food, and water		Deregulation so as to facilitate wealth creation and concentration; policies to boost competitiveness by decreasing protections for workers Promotion of corporate self-regulation and private governance in the arena of labour standards, social and welfare policy Exemption for transnational investor firms from new or existing labour and social laws Lack of regulation of debt and credit markets that facilitate debt bondage Under-resourcing or de-funding of labour inspectorates ‘Outsourcing’ of labour inspection and enforcement functions to private actors (e.g. auditors) Failure to develop effective supply chain regulation encompassing extra-territoriality