Abstract
This research examines how material and non-material well-being is understood and experienced by female workers in unskilled labour-intensive industries. Based on the capability approach of Amartya Sen, it finds that the lack of self-empowerment and collective empowerment can undermine well-being in all economic, social and psychological aspects. The empirical evidence, drawing on a cross-section of 249 female migrant workers in garment factories in Myanmar, supports this theory. Situated within the country’s economic and social transitions with an asymmetric labour market and underdeveloped social security system, it therefore suggests that labour policies should embrace and empower the most vulnerable groups of workers.