The final hypothesis with regards to labour, is that of their origin. As noted earlied in Chapters Three and Five, dual model theories, assume that the 4 formal’ and ‘informal’ sectors tend to attract different pools o f labour. Thus, if the sample factories o f this research were part o f the so called formal sector, as they are recorded, tax paying and regulated establishments, and if the workshop sample were part o f the so called informal sector, then according to the dual labour market theory the two groups should be recruiting their labour from different markets. The former from the urban, relatively high wage labour market and the latter from the low wage marginal and migrant labour market. In this section I compare the recruitment o f workers in terms o f the place o f their origin (migrant/non-migrant), their educational attainment and their gender distribution. Significant differences would suggest a division in the labour markets between the two types o f establishments.
With respect to the origins of recruited labour, table 7.11 shows that only a small percentage of both workshop and factory workers are first generation migrants (15 percent and 25 percent respectively) and none are recent migrants. All the workshop workers were living in Shubra before being recruited to their current job, and 90 percent of the factory workers were also from Shubra. Thus, not only are the workers of workshops o f the same origins, but moreover unlike the assumptions of the dualist model theories less o f the ‘informal’ sector workers are first generation migrants.
Table 7.11 Comparison of labour origins
Origins Recorded
%
Unrecorded %
First generation migrant 25 15 Second generation migrant 70 60 Lived in Shubra before job 100 90
To further test the demarcation between the two sectors in terms o f labour, the following table compares the previous employment o f the workers o f the two groups. The aim is to find out to what extent there is labour movement and fluidity within and between the recorded and unrecorded establishments.
T able 7.12 C om paring previous em ploym ent Previous
Employment
Recorded Unrecorded
No. of Workers % No. of Workers %
Recorded factory 280 45 60 30
Unrecorded workshop 154 25 103 50
Other 186 30 42 20
Total 620 100 205 100
Contrary to the basic premise of dual models theory, table 7.12 shows that there is significant movement both between and within the two types of establishments. For the factory workers, 45 percent had previously worked in other recorded garment factories and 25 percent were previously employed in unrecorded workshops. For the workshop workers, 30 percent were previously employed in recorded factories and 50 percent worked previously in other unrecorded garment workshops. These results strongly contradict the idea, put forward by dual labour market theory that labour mobility is only from the informal sector to the formal one, and that the informal sector is only a stepping- stone for migrants wishing to join the formal sector.
If both the factories and the workshops recruit from Shubra, and if there is movement from the workshops to the factories and vica versa, then it seems that we are dealing with a single labour market.
However there is, in Shubra El Kheima a dividing line in terms o f labour recruitment, this does not distinguish between recorded and unrecorded sectors but between the public sector and the private sector as a whole in terms o f skilled jobs. This division is based on education. Skilled workers in the public sector must be either graduates o f the industrial secondary schools or the factory training schemes. A worker without such qualifications, however skilled, would not be recruited to the public sector. It is important to note that this division only involves the recruitment o f skilled labour. In terms o f unskilled labour the public sector recruits from the same pool as the private sector. It is also important to note that since the economic reform process began in the early 1990s the public sector factories have reduced their workforces significantly; hence this difference is gradually disappearing within the garment labour market. As for eductational attainment as a dividing line between the recorded and unrecorded sector, the results are complex. The following table compares the educational attainment o f workers in unrecorded workshops and recorded factories of this study.
Table 7.13 Comparing educational attainment
Education Recorded Unrecorded
No. of Workers % No. of Workers %
Illiterate 121 19 53 26
Read and write 162 26 93 45
Less than intermediate 184 30 48 23
Intermediate 66 11 7 3
Higher than intermediate 59 10 4 2
University 32 4 0 0
Total 620 100 205 100
As can be seen from the table 7.13, in general, workers in the recorded factories had a higher formal educational attainment than workers in the unrecorded workshops; 25 percent o f the former had intermediate or higher education compared to only 5 percent for the latter. However, there were more workers who could only read and write within the workshops than in the factories (45percent versus 26 percent, respectively). The
percentage o f illiterates was close in the two types o f establishments (19 percent for the factories compared to 26 percent for the workshops).
In general, the degree of skill required for industrial work in the workshops and factories o f our study varied considerably, but in general, access to a trade was not tied to formal education. 'WTiile applicants for a public sector factory are expected to have at least a diploma from an industrial training institute, workshop and private factory workers have to pick up their skill on the job. Sometimes they follow an apprenticeship lasting a few months, but more usually they leam by helping an experienced worker. During this training phase newcomers are paid little if any wage.
As for difference in the supposedly two labour markets based on gender, table 7.14 shows that the majority o f workers in both sectors are female with 76 percent for the unrecorded workshops and 60 percent for the recorded factories. The predominance o f female labour in the garments industry is a general phenomenon in the private sector garments industry on a national level (CAPMAS, 1998).
Table 7.14 Comparing Gender distribution
Gender Recorded Unrecorded
No. of Workers % No. of Workers %
Male 249 40 49 24
Female 371 60 156 76
Total 620 100 205 100
However if we compare these results with the percentage o f female labour in the public sector garments industry, which is less than 30 percent on a national level (CAPMAS 1998), then we can see that there is a significant difference, not between recorded and unrecorded establishments in Shubra, but between the private and the public sector garments industry. In order to get a clearer picture of gender distribution in the establishments o f our study, we need to disaggregate the data to find out how this distribution takes place according to the different jobs within the establishments.
Table 7.15 Comparing Gender distribution according to job
Job Recorded Unrecorded
Male % Female % Male % Female % Cloth cutter 100 0 100 0 Sewing 5 95 0 100 Accessories 25 75 10 90 Ironing 70 30 90 10 Packaging 15 85 5 95
The above table (7.15) shows a strong concentration o f female labour in sewing, accessories and packaging, which is the same for the two types o f establishments. High skilled jobs, cloth-cutting is an exclusively male job, and ironing is also male dominated
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in both workshops and factories. Again, as with migration origins, the differences in gender distribution, even when disaggregated, between the recorded factories and the unrecorded workshops is insignificant.