In Defense of “Sweatshops”: Path to End Poverty Runs through Cheap Labor

Source: Independent Institute
by Benjamin Powell

“Garment factories do not conscript workers when they open in Dhaka, Bangladesh, or Jakarta, Indonesia. Many would-be workers walk for hours, lie about their age, and bribe their way into getting jobs. That is not victimhood. That is how people behave when they’ve found an opportunity to improve their lives. The U.N. panjandrums never consider the alternatives to low-wage factory work in poverty-ridden countries. The reality is brutal: subsistence farming at the mercy of monsoon season, scavenging, informal day labor, and even prostitution.” (06/27/26)

https://www.independent.org/article/2026/06/27/in-defense-of-sweatshops/