Nike’s Manufacturing Factories
A data story between gender wage equality, emerging markets and workers’ rights
Nike has manufacturers in almost every area of the world, according to its official data . There are only some exceptions: Russia, most of Africa and the of the Middle East appear to be completely free from Nike factories.
Number of Workers Manufacturing Nike’s Footwear, per Country
Only 18% of the factories are in North America, Europe or Japan. More than half of all Nike’s factories are concentrated in Emerging Markets. This number rises to 70% when considering only footwear factories.
Number of Factories grouped by Operating Region
Producing in emerging markets has its benefits, of course. These countries attract more and more multinational companies, as they offer more competitive environments to cheaply manufacture products. According to the Wall Street Journal, “in China, some provinces have raised minimum wages to more than $200 a month, while in Bangladesh the government sets the minimum wage for entry level garment workers there at less than $37 a month”. And when the low minimum wage is coupled with the extremely poor level of workers’ safeguards, safety requirements and legal controls, the local manufacturers can easily attract multinational companies looking for maximize profit from production costs. After the series of deathly incidents in Bangladeshi garment manufacturing plants, Nike has cut down on the number of contracts with local factories. But despite this step, it Nike still mainly centers its production in countries with low workers’ rights protection, as the following chart shows.
Number of Nike Manufacturers per Country
The ITUC redacted a report ranking countries in terms of their protection of worker’s rights. In absence of global surveys on the safety of manufacturing plants, this is one of the best indicators available to have an idea of where Nikes factories are located. ITUC’s index marks countries with a value from one to five (with a few countries scoring 5+), with higher numbers standing for worse worker protection. Out of the ten countries with most Nike manufacturers, more than half score a 4 or 5.
If we look at the overall distribution of Nike factories, almost 40% score a 5 out of 5 (meaning “No guarantee of rights”). And about 30% score a 4 (“Systematic violation of rights”). In Central and Eastern Europe, three out of the four countries have No guarantee of rights. A look at this data seems to back the generally claimed fact that plants of the Nike-acquired Converse are in countries with less worker protection and that these factories lag in meeting Nike’s standard for workers.
Number of Nike Factories grouped by Workers’ Right in Country of Location
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