Why Are Sweatshops Wrong

As an American born and raised in a stable democracy I thought I was going to write an essay in opposition of black-market sweatshops, but I was wrong. Americans have been brought up to see sweatshops as immoral and degrading. We 've only seen one side of the story and that ideal has been reinforced for generations. Learning about sweatshops from another point of view has opened my eyes. I still see sweatshops as corrupt but also a necessary evil. For all the misery they can engender, sweatshops at least offer a precarious escape from the poverty that is the developing world 's greatest problem.

Globalization has caused an increase in sweatshop labor, which benefits the economies of developing nations and the standard of living of the sweatshop
Lindauer stated "We know of no case where a nation developed a modern manufacturing sector without first going through a 'sweatshop ' phase." As history shows over time many nations have been able to experience significant economic growth following the implementation of sweatshops within their country. Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan with such labor, were able to jumpstart their economy into the powerhouses that they are today. Success was fast within a generation their national incomes climbed from about ten percent to forty percent of American incomes. Sweatshops act as a stepping-stone to economic development, and it improves the workers standard of living. "An employee of a sweatshop is given the ability to get a higher pay and work in conditions far improved for other sectors of the economy." Linda Lim, a professor at the University of Michigan stated in her research that in general sweatshops pay above-average wages for their country. By implementing sweatshops the economies of developing nations have a stepping-stone from which they are able to build. As most developing nations tend to not have much money or a high skill level among their workforce sweatshops are an ideal solution as they are built because of low capital and skill requirements. By allowing foreign investment in their country by way of sweatshops they are able to acquire the needed capital. This enables the country to provide more for its citizens and attempt to stabilize the prices of goods within the economy. Finally sweatshops aid in attracting more foreign investments, which further fosters economic growth. The development of sweatshops within developing nations enables the countries to experience economic development. Most of the third world population would agree that this opportunity far out weighs the disadvantages of the working