The author makes two claims to support the idea that cheap labor is needed. In the first claim, the author argues that "sweatshops lead to success". He/she supports the claim by stating that "every prosperous country" has to under go a "cheap labor" temporary period but in the end they turn into a good rich economy, like China. Adding on, the author states that, "a country must be able to afford to ban child labor before child labor is pulled out from under it". In the second claim he supports it by saying that "Third world countries meed the advantage of cheap labor" by claiming that all of these prosperous countries started with child and cheap labor. Both claims support the argument that cheap labor is needed in order to
Sweltering heat, long hours, and unfair working conditions are a few descriptive words that Americans use to describe a sweatshop. I believe our judgment is being misguided by the success of our nation, and it is imperative we redefine the word “sweatshop”. Individuals that endure life in third world countries know hardships that Americans could not imagine. If we were to recognize these economical differences it may shine a light on why these workers seek sweatshop jobs. In many of these cases, children must work to aid in the family’s survival. If these jobs are voluntary and both parties agree to work conditions, it results in a mutually beneficial arrangement. One of the worst things we can do as outsiders, to help these impoverished
A majority of the clothing worn and purchased today in the United States has been manufactured overseas in sweatshops. Since the beginning of factories and businesses, owners have always looked for a way to cut production costs while still managing to produce large quantities of their product. It was found that the best way to cut costs was to utilize cheap labor in factories known as sweatshops. According to the US General Account Office, sweatshops are defined as a “business that regularly violates both wage or child labor and safety or health laws”. These sweatshops exploit their workers in various ways: making them work long hours in dangerous working conditions for little to no pay. Personally, I believe that the come up and employment of these sweatshops is unethical, but through my research I plan to find out if these shops produce more positive than negatives by giving these people in need a job despite the rough conditions.
Child labor and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labor of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labor to the end of time.”
As companies grow larger and more competitive, they are looking for cheaper ways to produce their wares and increase their profit. That is, after all, how companies are able to succeed, by giving their customers a comparable product for a cheaper price. This increases sales and the overall bottom line. Which seems to be a beneficial plan for both the companies and the consumers. That is, as long as the consumers don’t know how the product is being produced. The places that produce these products for an extremely cheap cost are called “Sweatshops”. A sweatshop is a small manufacturing establishment in which employees work long hours under substandard conditions for low wages. Sweatshops came about
Document 3: I think that the workers’ condition is a result of natural law. I think that these children are most likely making very low wages due to an increase in food production, and therefore an increase in population. So, the children most likely have to work in bad conditions to be able to make any money for their poor families.
On the other hand, the opposing side believes that child labor is necessary in developing countries. Some believe that developing countries need child labor to survive and that parents need their children to work so that they can afford an education and food. Gary Weiner explains, “Children who work long hours either get an inferior education, or none at all, and grow up without the necessary skills and education that will
Child labor is a sigsignificant problem in developing. Countries across the globe(Dilascia,tracey m).one of the most oftern -cited examples of child labor abuse occurs in manufacturing industries(Dilacia, tracey m).one of the most frequently proposed solutions to the child labor problem is the imposition of economic(Dilacia tracey m ). Many international organizations as well a number of European counties oppose placing on countries that permit child labor( Dilacia tracey m).ultimately ,the problem of child labor will not truly be solved until the poverty( Dilacia tracey m).It is estimated that a staggering million child across the world are exploited child laborers(zoltan, melania barto ).while the u.s. often speaks against child labor and has federal and state laws punishing those who illegally exploited children in this country(zoltan, melania barton). In order to prevent child labor,the u.s. must impose economic santions on countries that continue to exploit children(zoltan ,melanina barton).For instance ,the worst forms of child labor convention 182, enacted in 1999 , was designed to prohibit the worst forms of child labor.( zoltan.
Based on the case study Two Cheers for Sweatshops, Nicholas (2000) points out that at first when sweatshops introduced, India rejected it while Taiwan and South Korea accepted it and now we all can see that Taiwan and South Korea are more successful and developed countries compared to India. This can be shown when Taiwan and South Korea have low infants morality rates and high levels of education while India has a higher infant mortality rate. So basically sweatshops have lowered the rates of infant
In the third world countries such as Vietnam, China, South Korea and Taiwan, we are provided with an example of cheap labour. These corporations could now achieve the benefit of the United States consumer market8, while keeping their costs extremely low in offshore production. The working conditions in the United States were poor for centuries, often little to nothing was done unless a tragedy occurred to influence worker rights by the public. This was the issue during the Industrial Revolution and in the late 20th century. In the United states, improvements have been made and these conditions have disappeared, with the privilege in some agricultural areas. Companies from the United States have moved a considerable amount of their factories
I. Claim 1: Sweatshops increase the standards of living for the workers and their communities
Americans love to shop. With malls everywhere you go, shopping just might be America's favorite past time! When you are out shopping though, do you ever stop to think where all of those clothes and shoes come from? When I was younger, well, actually until recently, I always thought they were all made by machines. Shirt machines, pants machines…you get the picture. I have learned, however, that for the most part, clothes are still made on sewing machines, by people, and often under circumstances that we can only imagine.
“Child labor keeps children out of school and is thus a major barrier to development. (1)”
By definition a sweatshop is a “negatively connoted term for any working environment considered to be unacceptably difficult or dangerous. Sweatshop workers often work long hours for very low pay in horrible conditions, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay and or minimum wage”. Many corporations in the United States use sweatshop labor in countries over seas such as China to produce their products at a lower cost. As entailed in the letter from a man born in China, many citizens on these countries resort to factory labor to support themselves to escape other sources on income such as prostitution. Without these corporations usage of oversea sweatshops these employees would be forced to return to self-demeaning jobs such as these.
After researching information on sweatshops and working conditions in which my clothing in being manufactured, I have come to a conclusion that I shouldn’t support the companies that exploit cheap labor in sweatshops. I’ve had the luxury of being able to buy clothes and not have a care in the world about how it's made. But now that I know how my clothes are made I have began to question my need to buy clothing from the big companies who exploit cheap labor. Of course I need clothing but I don't need to buy as much and maybe make or borrow clothing from relatives. I believe that boycotting the clothing industry is the only way to get big company's attention and get them to stop using sweatshops in foreign countries for cheap
Currently there are 168 million child laborers in the world. More than half of them, 85 million, employed at hazardous jobs, according to the International Labour Organization. In the article “In Praise of Cheap Labor Bad jobs at bad wages are better than no jobs at all”, Paul Krugman Professor of economics at MIT, explains that child labor cannot just be wiped away like so many other distasteful practices. That it takes a perfect storm of economic success and low child labor numbers for a full transition to labor laws that ban it. Employers will agree to follow the law; similar to what happened in the U.S. in the 1930’s when Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act. This Act established standards for the basic minimum wage and overtime pay. It restricts the hours that children under age 16 can work and forbids the employment of children under age 18 in certain jobs deemed too dangerous. Krugman believes that many developing countries are not at a point where they can support a full ban on child labor. He gives the example of countries like “Indonesia [who are,] still so poor that progress is measured in terms of how much the average person gets to eat” (Krugman 4). Professor of economics at Yale university, Christopher Udry, in his article “Child Labor” provides a definition of child labor as “ the sacrifice of the future welfare of the child in exchange for additional income” (243). The causes of Child labor are not as simple as cultural or economic reasons, and a