Child Labour-Good Business or Not?
Child Labour: Good Business or Not?
Imagine being a 10-year old child and having to wake up early in the morning but not to go to school, instead you are going out to work. Doesn’t sound possible? Think again, over 13% of children aged between ten to fourteen years old around the world do exactly that: 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Child labour is something that has existed for centuries and still exists in today’s world. Whether work can be described as child labour depends on the age of the child, the type of hours of work performed, the conditions under which it is performed and the objectives pursued by individual countries. Depending on the country or the industry sector that answer varies. A more negative definition of child labour is work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to their physical and mental development (“What is child labour”). But when talking about business, the only goal is to make money. The age of employees is not a factor when considering who to hire, the cheaper the better. When deciding whether child labour should be ethically accepted or not, it is important to consider both sides of the argument, the causes and the factors that explain why certain people accept it and others not.
Firstly, if we understand that there are over 73 million children working around the world, having children work must have some positive aspects. The places around the world where child labour is at its highest are developing countries, with the highest amount in Asia and then in Africa. The reason for this is that a great majority of people are poor and have very low levels of living conditions. Some children decide to work out of their own will because they need to bring in some money for the family. They want to be able to eat and have clothes on their backs. They want their younger brothers or sisters to be able to go to school because they weren’t able to go. Other children decide to work
Imagine being a 10-year old child and having to wake up early in the morning but not to go to school, instead you are going out to work. Doesn’t sound possible? Think again, over 13% of children aged between ten to fourteen years old around the world do exactly that: 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Child labour is something that has existed for centuries and still exists in today’s world. Whether work can be described as child labour depends on the age of the child, the type of hours of work performed, the conditions under which it is performed and the objectives pursued by individual countries. Depending on the country or the industry sector that answer varies. A more negative definition of child labour is work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to their physical and mental development (“What is child labour”). But when talking about business, the only goal is to make money. The age of employees is not a factor when considering who to hire, the cheaper the better. When deciding whether child labour should be ethically accepted or not, it is important to consider both sides of the argument, the causes and the factors that explain why certain people accept it and others not.
Firstly, if we understand that there are over 73 million children working around the world, having children work must have some positive aspects. The places around the world where child labour is at its highest are developing countries, with the highest amount in Asia and then in Africa. The reason for this is that a great majority of people are poor and have very low levels of living conditions. Some children decide to work out of their own will because they need to bring in some money for the family. They want to be able to eat and have clothes on their backs. They want their younger brothers or sisters to be able to go to school because they weren’t able to go. Other children decide to work