A Tenth of Haitian GDP Comes From Garment Exports
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The Numbers:
Garment workers in Haiti, 2004: c. 25,000
Garment workers in Haiti, 2006: c. 12,000
What They Mean
Among the rivers of clothing flowing into the United States from the world's poor countries, Haiti's is a small brook. Poorest of the western hemisphere's 35 nations, Haiti is the 30th-largest supplier of clothes to the United States, and the simple skirts, T-shirts, blouses, and sweaters stitched annually by its 46 garment firms are its largest urban industry.
Studying the world's garment industries in 2004, the U.S. International Trade Commission reported that Haitian garment workers were earning, on average, about $4 for each eight-hour day's work. As 77 percent of Haitians -- 6 million of the country's 8 million people -- live on less than $2 per day, the figure implies that Haiti's 12,000 garment workers are in the top fifth (or even the possibly the top 10th) of earners, and their salaries can support extended families of 10 or 15 people. In total, the 46 companies running factories dotting Port-au-Prince bring in about $400 million a year in export money, which is about one-tenth of Haitian GDP.
The brook may be drying up, though. A mid-November Miami Herald article reports that about 15 factories around Port-au-Prince have closed in the last two years, as political upheavals and intensifying international competition make life tougher for Haiti's businesses. The typical case, according to The Herald, is that of Laula Jean, earning $1400 a year as a quality-control specialist last October but now unemployed. Before the U.S. Congress leaves for good this week, it can do something kind: Haitian economists suggest that a more generous trade preference law, known as "Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity Through Partnership (HOPE)," might bring garment-industry employment back up to 30,000 or so.
Further Reading
The Democratic Leadership Council endorses trade benefits for Haiti and Africa:
http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=254048
&kaid=131&subid=192
The Miami Herald reports on Haitian garment workers, factory managers and their thoughts on HOPE:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/
business/16013322.htm
The Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue looks at trade preference and other ways to reduce poverty in Haiti:
http://www.iadialog.org/publications/
country_studies/haiti_poverty.pdf
The U.S. International Trade Commission on Haiti's garment industry, 2004 (pp. 50-55):
http://hotdocs.usitc.gov/pub3671/appendix_i.pdf#page=50
The Inter-American Development Bank's Haiti page:
http://www.iadb.org/countries/home.cfm?id_country=HA