Mapping efforts to improve conditions for workers in global value chains

In recent years, concerns for the social sustainability of supply chains have gained prominence. The international fragmentation of production, characterized by multiple border crossings of intermediate inputs, means that final goods consumed in countries with decent working conditions may still incorporate labor inputs from countries with more challenging practices. This paper leverages an inter-country input-output approach to map working conditions along global value chains. This method accounts for upstream inputs in assessing the circumstances experienced by workers for all labor embodied in OECD countries' final demand for a given good or service. Additionally, the paper compares three distinct policy instruments: labor provisions in preferential trade agreements, voluntary sustainability initiatives, and domestic supply chain sustainability laws. The paper discusses their institutional features and documents their empirical distribution across countries and sectors, as well as their coverage of specific supply chains.