However, with the rise in sweatshop labor, the public awareness grew as well.
The public began to see the evils of sweatshop labor, and people started to take initiative. One of the original purposes of factory and minimum wage legislation was to eliminate the exploitation of workers. The growth of idealism, the pressure of trade unions, the growth of labor parties, and an increased interest in human relations in industry have contributed to the control of sweatshop use in the last century (Sweatshops 435). Corporations simply look for labor that will enable them to achieve the greatest profit. .
Sweatshops still exist today for many reasons. Corporate greed follows a clear pattern. Companies hire subcontractors for factories in countries where regulations are insubstantial and labor-operating costs are the lowest. Frequently, some countries are forced to resort to sweatshop labor as a necessity to increase their economy. Governments and international trade agencies, like the World Trade Organization, create trade laws and lending policies that require developing countries to support their economies. To accomplish this requirement, these countries must create export industries, and as a result, they ignore the problem of social injustice (Why 1). Third world countries need the foreign money, and therefore sweatshop labor continues to exist.
.
Competition, as well as other factors, puts pressure on retailers to keep the cost of products down, but who gets punished? The sweatshop laborers receive the penalty, with forced overtime, low wages, punishment for slow work and mistakes, child labor, and other abuses (Why 2). United States and European countries do not like the pressure to set standards for overseas manufacturing. Improving conditions in factories threatens profits and is often wastes managers" time. Nonetheless, consumers want clothes manufactured in decent factories offering a living wage to employees, but they also want inexpensive products.