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The past decade has seen much discussion about the scope for national distinctiveness in employment relations in the context of the globalisation of corporations and markets. This paper employs historical data on aspects of working conditions in 11 nations' manufacturing sectors to comment on the impact of supposedly intensifying global pressures. With no historic convergence of working conditions evidenced by a statistical analysis, the paper turns to preliminary econometric analysis to afford some purchase on the conditions which underpin continuing national distinctiveness. The results suggest that cross-national variation in the exposure of employees to managerial prerogative, whilst being far from the only influence, has played a substantial role in the shaping of working conditions.