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Doubling the salary of sweatshop workers would only increase the consumer cost of an item by 1.8%, while consumers would be willing to pay 15% more to know a product did not come from a sweatshop. Cheap labor has become a staple of society even though the drawbacks of the abuse and overuse of low-wage workers has lasting negative effects towards the economic state of a country. The effects of using cheap labor as an alternative extend greatly and are prevalent in copious amounts of industry. The abuse of cheap labor should be reformed because of the detriments it generates. History/Background Information On Cheap Labor The use of cheap labor has long been a part of the United States economy. From outsourcing jobs, using foreign workers on visas, and milking the situation of illegal immigrants it is apparent the abuse of cheap labor has become commonplace. One industry that has taken advantage of the use of cheap labor is the tech industry. David Enrich (2000), award-winning reporter and editor at the Wall Street Journal, states that “the tech industry craves …show more content…
Use of illegal labor detrimentally affects the economy, job availability, and the wage gap. According to Michael Telzrow (2007) “The costs associated with uncontrolled immigration and flooding the U.S. job market with low-wage laborers far outweigh any savings to be had.” (p. 27) Americans without higher education are being pushed out by illegal immigrants willing to work the same jobs for lower pay. The economy is being affected by the prolific use of illegal immigrants in low paying jobs. In the 1980’s, the wage gap between low- and high-skilled workers increased between 15 to 25 percent due to the use of illegal immigrants. (Lind, 1998, p. 60) The idea that American workers will not do hard labor for low wages has become a false commonplace argument for the use of illegal
The controversial issue of sweatshops is one often over looked by The United States. In the Social Issues Encyclopedia, entry # 167, Matt Zwolinski tackles the issues of sweatshops. In this article Matt raises a question I have not been able to get out of my head since I have begun researching this topic, “ are companies who contract with sweatshops doing anything wrong?” this article goes on to argue that the people who work in the sweatshops willingly choose to work there, despite the poor environment. Many people in third world countries depend on the sweatshops to earn what they can to have any hopes of surviving. If the sweatshops were to shut down many people would lose their jobs, and therefore have no source of income. This may lead people to steal and prostitution as well. this article is suggesting that sweatshops will better the economy by giving people a better job than what they may have had. Due to this the companies contracting with sweatshops are not acting wrong in any way. This was a deductive article it had a lot of good examples to show how sweatshops are beneficial to third world countries. Radly Balko seemed to have the same view point as Matt Zwolinski. Many people believe the richer countries should not support the sweatshops Balko believes if people stopped buying products made in sweatshops the companies will have to shut down and relocate, firing all of the present workers. Rasing the fact that again the worker will have no source of income, the workers need the sweatshop to survive. Balko also uses the argument that the workers willingly work in the current environments.
While the legal citizens are complaining about illegal immigrants taking up jobs in the low wage sector, this is not true. Undocumented immigrants are able to access those jobs because of the immobility of the American citizens working in the low wage sector (Nadadur 1048). On the other hand, the efforts of undocumented immigrants are not only realizable in the low wage sector, but also high wage sector that provides for white-collar jobs. Some of the illegal immigrants that reside in United States are highly qualified professionals and their input is significant in driving the U.S economy to greater heights. Within the population of undocumented immigrants,
Some people of North America know about these sweatshop workers, they feel bad and some also protest. They set up NGOs, send funds and donations but they never try to break the tradition of sweatshop working. They all assume that this is best for the society. An Idea can be drawn from William
Illegal immigration has been a problem that has plagued the United States for many years. This problem is not new to the country because thousands of immigrants have crossed over the oceans and Mexican border since our country was founded. The underlying problem is the lack of assimilation to the American ways of life and the acceptance of existing rules and laws. With the already fragile economy and the largely growing unemployment rate Americans must make every effort to close its borders to undocumented workers to ease the strain and retain any available jobs for unemployed Americans and legal workers. Aviva Chomsky writes “immigration plays a much more complex role in the employment picture, and many different factors affecting employment and unemployment.”(4). Chomsky so on to say, “it indeed seems to be the case that immigrants and low-skilled citizens are competing for the same jobs”(11). Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants enter the country and start working either under illegal names or take agricultural jobs in which they are paid under the table. Chomsky solidifies this fact when she say “some immigrants work in the informal economy, and are paid under the table in-cash, so they don’t have federal and state income taxes, or social security taxes, deducted from their paychecks”(36).Which a lot of employers are catching on to because on doing this they don’t have to pay taxes and can turn more of a profit This also hurts the country’s economy because no one is paying their taxes and so there is no money flowing to pull the country out of the current recession. This burden indefinitely falls on the shoulders of the rest of the legal citizens of America who are inevitable paying the way for this one sided labor for...
Immigrants all over the world come to the United States for a search of a new life and new opportunities. Just like any other human being, they just want to have a better job and a new life. Many argue that undocumented immigrants are harming the United States. Donald Trump wants to deport all undocumented immigrants because the only thing that the audience knows about undocumented immigrants are the bad things that they cause. What if I told you that not all undocumented immigrants harm the United States? President Barack Obama was quoted in an article emphasizing that, “We’re deporting people that shouldn’t be deported. We’re not deporting folks that are dangerous and need to be deported.” (Sanders). We should only deport those people who are causing dangerous activities and harming the United States. Undocumented immigrants should not be deported and should be able to get at least a work permit because they contribute to the United States by having an impact to the economy, they do not commit as many crimes as you think, and the country spends too much money on border security.
Velasquez, James. “Minimum Wage Debate: How Sweatshops Are Actually Good for the Poor.” Policy Mic. N.p., 9 June 2012. Web. 7 Feb. 2014. .
Recently, the U.S. government has been cracking down on illegal aliens and employers are in danger of raids and lawsuits for hiring illegal immigrants. Many employers either do not require any documentation or accept copies of documents (Rousmaniere 24-25), regarding legalization. Immigrants are desired employees and companies continue to hire them even with the risks. By working for lower wages, they keep the costs of goods and services down; the illegal alien work force helps improve the U.S. economy (Nadadur 1037-1052). However, illegal immigrants can have a negative effect when they encroach on American job opportunities (Carter 8). Some economists argue that illegal aliens actually help the host-country’s economy by adding to the labor force. However, other economists state that too many illegal...
The lack of enforcement of immigration policies will cause the greatest impact on America’s economy. One of the most controversial topics is how immigrants affect jobs and wages. Many argue that immigrants help the economy by working for the people that will not, but in reality they are taking Americans jobs and legal immigrants that have earned their rights. The main issue is wages: illegal immigrants are desperate for jobs and will do anything. Businessmen will take advantage of this and pay them significantly lower wages. Cheap labor negatively affects other workers. Studies show that immigrants push down wages and may cause other workers to leave a certain industry.
China’s history of sweatshops and factories has grown because of economic motives and government conditions. Multinational corporations such as Apple or Microsoft are “large corporations that sell goods and services throughout the world” (O’Sullivan 456). In order to maximize profits, these corporations have to find ways to cut corners and reduce input costs. All of this is done to provide the cheaper prices that American consumers enjoy. Asian subcontractors do not provide their workers with the benefits and wages that are found in the U.S. In China, wages are much lower, labor movements are repressed, and labor laws are not enforced effectively (“Working Conditions”). Many Chinese workers do not even know about trade unions or collective bargaining, which is a tool that laborers have been able to take advantage of in America. By outsourcing production overseas, these corporations seek to take advantage of cheaper labor in China, a ho...
Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn are Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalists who spent fourteen years in Asia doing research on the country as well as the sweatshops of that country. In their article "Two Cheers for Sweatshops" they sum up clearly the misunderstanding of sweatshops by most of the modern world. "Yet sweatshops that seem brutal from the vantage point of an American sitting in his living room can appear tantalizing to a Thai laborer getting by on beetles." The fact of the matter is that sweatshops in the eyes of the actual workers are not as bad as they are made out to be, by many activists. Though many organizations that oppose sweatshops and their labor practices try to make the point that sweatshops do not have to exist. But one must consider the fact that, the companies that use sweatshops are creating at least some type of jobs for people that gladly accept them.
In the United States there is a problem. People are working minimum wage jobs and are not being able to pay for basic needs such as rent and food. According to the Low Income Housing Coalition, Today, in the United States a person earning the Federal minimum wage of seven twenty-five an hour would have to work around eighty-six hours per week to be able to afford a one-bedroom apartment at the Fair Market Rent, of eight hundred and six dollars (“Out of Reach”). People are working and need government assistance to help them pay for basic needs in life. Raising the national minimum wage to fifteen dollars an hour would allow people to live a life where they don’t have to worry about not having enough money for food, rent, or other basic needs
Given a chance to get a job and an education, people can get out of poverty, to turn around the economy to improve their living conditions and to increase the wealth of a country. Over the past twenty years is common to listen about sweatshops and its role exploiting people and destroying economies. People are wrong, they are blind for they desire for a better world, free of poverty and injustice. Unfortunately, good intentions alone won’t change the world and sweatshops have taken the first step to change the world.
The nation is in the grips of an employment deficit that has crippled the overall growth of the economy. While the effects of the Great Recession are starting to balance out, he overall job creation are still not where they need to be. Businesses, both small and big alike, have taken massive losses that resulted in several loss of jobs and workers who have saturated the unemployment lines from coast to coast. Highly skilled and qualified workers with several years of schooling and job training are having difficulty searching and attaining a well paying job. The amount of unemployed workers has steadily increased with only a fraction of the job growth being reported. It is not a wonder why the level of quality of workers is decreasing. The workers
Improving wages, working conditions, and creating labor unions are all big and small changes that can be made to change the negative aspects of sweatshops around the world. Even though this is a steady job for people it is still not the best way for people to make a living. “The children didn’t want to lose their jobs. They had to help support their families” (Timmerman 45). Even though these factories are big reasons as to why families can support themselves in the poor conditions they live in, there are ways to improve upon them without causing jobs to be taken away. “Virtually all large companies use factories that could be classified as sweatshops” (Greenhouse). This expresses how there are obvious issues within the factories that are being used that need to be changed and as shown there are different ways to do
{Hook} Cheap labour is the term provided when an individual is exploited to work intensely for a long number of hours and in return is paid an unreasonable salary for working these hours under terrible working conditions. Cheap labour usually takes place in factories and construction sites and it has been implemented for a very long time in developing and under developed countries such as China, Mexico, Indonesia and Vietnam and it is practised on individuals who come into developing countries from third world countries. It is an undeniable fact that the industrialized democracies depend on different types of cheap labour for an extensive range of their economic activities (King and Rudea 2008, 1-2). Illiteracy and lack of education has always been the major tool in powering cheap labor as vast number of people in third world countries and developing nations find it difficult to earn a living in their own soil, hence, they are left with no other choice but attaining a job and working for multinational co operations with a lower salary for their own survival. However, even though the amount of money they obtain monthly is approximately 3 times greater to the wage they are given in their own land, the cost of living in developing countries is higher. However the amount of money they obtain monthly is approximately greater to the wage they are given back home, the cost of living in these countries are generally higher which means that the amount they can save to send for their families at home is far less than they have expected. This paper outlines and argues on the immediate, ethical as well as long term impacts on a country and the labourers caused by exploit...