Economics of Sweatshops in India

A sweatshop is a location where citizens are hired on to do hard labor on low wages. Recently, there has been some controversy over the civility of sweatshops in India. Workers are hired on to manufacture goods at a substantially lower wage than would be acceptable in the United States.  Many people argue that this is inhumane and that the wages should be raised so that the Indian people can improve their conditions.

I recently watched a report on the economic effect of sweatshops in India and the effect that they have on the natives there. The report showed college students from various prestigous universities around the nation that have formed protest groups against sweatshops in India. Then the interviewer interviewed citizens of India to get their input on the impact and civility of these sweatshops.

It turns out that sweatshops allow for the unemployed of India to gain employment, and actually allow for higher wages than average for the country.  The Indian people are very much in favor of the sweatshops as it allows for children to work instead of starving. The children were also very much in favor of working instead of starving.

The report was very interesting, I think that the protesters should reconsider their protest and find the facts of the economic impact that these locations actually have on a country like India.

I have posted a link to the report, you can find it at this site:
http://stosselintheclassroom.org/video_activityAug08.html