Sweatshops: a nightmare… or a dream?

I think we shouldn’t just focus on the downside of sweatshops in Third World countries. Let’s consider the point of view of Nicholas D. Kristof:

The local population of the poorest countries could only dream of a job in sweatshops. It might involve not so great labour conditions such as long working hours and extremely low wages, but rather a job like that than no job. How strange it may seem, in the hierarchy of labour in developing countries sweatshop jobs don’t belong to the bottom. 

As D. Kristof mentioned in the article, the existence of sweatshops is a symptom of poverty. Shutting these factories down would imply a chance less for the locals to break the circle of poverty. (The New York Times)

I do realize that minimizing costs by exploiting people is all but ethical. We cannot explain away the use of sweatshops in Third World countries by leading firms. On the other hand there is no denying that the local population wouldn’t be better off without them. I think we can conclude that sweatshops are a temporary solution and a beginning of a long process to escape from poverty. 

Jolien Nachtergaele