Sweatshop Essay Sample

Poverty standards all over the world are posing a challenge to the international community. While the developed nations are making bigger arrangements such as the labor standards, people in the developing economies such as Ghana and Cambodia lack jobs and live in abject poverty. The author says that there are some 19 year-olds and 13 year-olds, who work in sweatshops and earn less than $1 a day. The author compares the employment ages in the United States and other developed nations with those in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The major issue addressed in the article is an appeal to the United States to ensure that they promote manufacturing in poor nations instead of campaigning against sweatshops. The author proposes that America could strengthen the African imports, called AGOA, and nudge Europe to match it.
Sweatshops are helpful to the poor countries where they are found. While President Obama and the Democrats favoring labor standards in trade agreements mean well since they intend to advocate for the oppressed workers, these sweatshops are also beneficial to the poor nationals. The author says that “Americans have a hard time accepting that sweatshops can help people.” However, people do even worthless things such as scavenging in the dump. Parents hope that their children would one day get better jobs to take care of themselves.
Additionally, manufacturing is one of the best strategies that can be used to eradicate poverty in the poor nations. People in the poor countries are always willing to take up jobs at any available pay since they do not have better options. Therefore, the author is right to say that one of the best hopes for the poorest countries would be to build their manufacturing industries.