Charles S. Clark

About the author: Charles S. Clark is a former staff writer for CQ Researcher, a weekly report on current social issues.

Concern about the use of child labor and sweatshops has grown as retailers in industrialized nations have increasingly come to rely on low-wage workers—often people in developing nations—to produce goods. Labor leaders and human rights activists point out that many factories in the garment, carpet, and sports equipment industries employ young children and subject workers to long hours, poor pay, physical and verbal abuse, and unhealthy working conditions. Some contend that consumers, businesses, governments, and labor unions should take direct action to curb such abuses by raising public awareness about child labor, banning imports of sweatshop-made products, or establishing humane workplace codes. Others, however, maintain that such actions...