Everyday, around the world millions of children are forced to work in harsh and grueling, environments with very little pay. Child Labor is one of the biggest problems that are occurring in the Undeveloped and Developing World. As awful as it may sound these hardships aren't necessarily bad economically. Child Labour provides many benefits to the people and government: it provides jobs and encourages economic growth through cheap products. Compared to many starving, helpless children, these children have shelter, income, and actively help their economy.
Underdeveloped, and Developing nations do not have the qualifications to establish businesses in higher developed industries such as Tertiary. 45% of India's total thick population of one billion is illiterate or semi-literate, these people wouldn't be able to find jobs in modern industries to earn money for supporting their family, Sweatshops and factories are giving children a chance to help their family rather than sitting helplessly waiting to be fed.
Two girls protesting child labour (by calling it c...
English: Children gathering potatoes on a large fa...
From www.victorianweb.org/history/ashley.html, a e...Without Sweatshops the children are even worse off. Past experiences have shown that where governments implemented a policy of banning Child Labour under international influence, followed with severe negative and unintended consequences. In Bangladesh for example, a boycott of Garments made by Child Labour caused 50,000 Children to loose their jobs. These children then took up even lower paying jobs in other industries, or other demeaning jobs, some even being pushed into prostitution.
Economies benefit greatly from Child Labour: As shown in the article many Sweatshops in China contributed to the doubling of the per-capita output every ten years. Compared to the Industrialization of Europe, which took fifty-eight years to double. Wages have risen dramatically, from as low as $50/month to as much as $250/month due to competition for the best labourers.
Child Labour is not an easy problem to solve, but it will resolve itself overtime. No society in history has been able to develop without the Labour of their children. At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution over 95% of children had to work. In less than two-hundred years today's developed and industrialized countries broke away from thousands of years of human history and made child Labour mostly redundant by substantial gains in productivity and incomes.
A smiling boy recycling garbage in Saigon.
English: 11Rose Biodo, 1216 Annan St., Philadelphi...
Child labor, can't we try to stop it?