ESSAY

Assessment
question

Using three principles of the Global Business Standards Codex, evaluate the use of child
labour in a global economy.

Type your essay below:

Business ethics are ethics that arise in a business environment and is important to
address not because whether it is right or wrong but because they have an effect on the
business and the world around us. One of the main issue found in business ethics is child
labour which by itself has existed for a long time,
One of the ways to deal with Business ethics is through the Universalist approach, which
attempts to bring to global values together which is seen in the Global Business Standards
Codex
The use of child labour is in the global economy is undesirable, not because
The use of child labour breaks the Dignity Principle as it has an adverse effect on children
physically and mentally. It was shown in Pitt, Shah, Stersky and Williams (eds. 1981) that
a study in a japan showed a 4 cm difference in height between those who began work
before the age of 14 and those who began after 18, where at age 12 they were of equal
height shows the impact of child labour on the body which working at a young age is
simply unnatural, which when seen in Crowley & Johnson (2004) that there are
approximately 171 million children between 5-17 who are in hazardous occupation shows
that child labourers are more susceptible to injuries. That according to Gupta, Pirsch and
Girard (2010) that pursuing an ethical approach will give increased sale. Another adverse
effect is on education the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights (2008) released a
report on a factory where children 13 to 15 were forced to work 70 hours a week which is
not conducive to having a good education. Though Pitt et al. (eds. 1981) states that
children may learn skills that are not taught at schools, such as traditional and social
values, that are obtained by working cooperatively with others which assists employees in
developing skills and knowledge, but neglecting education according to Fassa and Parker
(2010) will lead into lower opportunity for better employment, but more importantly that
focusing on education will improve the health and situation of future generations, which the
use of child labour would negate and may ultimately lead into a cycle of poverty. Thus, it is
undesirable to use child labour

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The use of child labour has The Kai Da Toy Factory example is to show how many are
denied wages, and to gain the most comparative advantages many are not paid fairly,
which for the gruelling hours they put in they should be, which breaks the fairness principle
of fair compensation. There are many children who are working, but who are not receiving
any wage, this is seen by children who are working domestically or on a farm with their
family. Though a benefit of the use of child labour is that it gives equal employment
opportunities all over the world which reduce the amount of poverty, as said by Basu and
Van (1998) that against expectations its the parents that drive children to work in child
labour, despite how unethical child labour is and its adverse effect show how the
importance of the income gain from their children, which may be the difference of the
whole family eating or famish for another day. Though child labour is not the answer for
reducing poverty as Edmonds and Pavenik (2008) showed a survey conducted in 2002
about the textiles industry in central Bangladesh a very low 1.2 % of children 5-14 were
found to be working as paid employees, this is not endemic to Bangladesh but happens
around the world and breaks the Fairness Principle by not offering fair and reasonable
compensation for their work and that making policies around poverty can it be reduced. As
a result it is undesirable to use child labour because
The use of child labour has negative effects both on the local community and the world as
the Citizenship principle shows. It is shown by Pitt et al. (eds. 1981) that statistics shown in
PRNs Children of the World: showed that 30% of the workforce in Tanzania is comprised
of children, in Thailand 25% where as in the US 1.6% are child labour, the high usage rate
will be a problem in the long term. According to Hindman and Smith (1999) if adults are
two times more productive than children, then abolishing child labour would mean that
output would be the same but with two times less employees and also it would reduce the
amount of structural employment. This means that the labour force can easily meet labour
demand and overall more efficient, this is seen in Figure 1 which is the Production
Possibility Frontier, which shows the maximum output given the inputs which in this case
labour where expanding the labour force with adults will allow a business PPF to shift
upwards and meet point Y and produce more goods. Conversely continuing the use of
child labour Hindman and Smith (1999) shows that it would introduce inefficiencies into the
market where many children are underpaid productivity would drop and making it hard to
meet market demand and ultimately on Figure 1 the PPF would shift downwards and meet
point X when labour is not used efficiently to create goods, which means overall least
goods produced for a business. Though the use of child labour can help economically
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when labour demand is high and expensive and reduce inflation Pitt et al. (eds. 1981), as
the using child labour will decrease overhead expenses, which will reduce the price
needed to break even. Though overall, the benefit of not using child labour outweighs the
positive showing that not only child labour ethically wrong it is not efficient and doesnt
contribute to the world economy making the use of child labour undesirable.

Figure 1
Ultimately, the use of child labour in the global economy is undesirable due to how it has
an adverse effect on children, physically but mentally in terms of education. That
advocating against child labour will increase sales. That it also undesirable because the
global market needs has led to many children being exploited and while child labour has
helped reduce poverty there are better policies to deal with poverty. Using child labour has
actually has a negative effect on the global economy as it produces inefficiencies into the
market that will reduce a country PPF, and that by removing child labour will increase the
participation rate of the labour force which will make it easier to meet labour demand and
increase a country PPF, by being more efficient. These three arguments show why that the
use of child labour is not only ethically wrong but undesirable to use.

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References
Type your reference list in alphabetical order below:

Paine, L, Deshpande R, Margolis JD & KE Bettcher 2005, Up to Code: Does Your Companys Conduct Meet
World-Class Standards?, Harvard Business Review, vol. 83, no. 12, pp. 122-133.
Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights 2008, Nightmare on Sesame Street: Ernie Toy Made in Chinese
Sweatshop, viewed 6 May 2013, <www.globallabourrights.org/reports?id=0510>.
Crowley L & Johnson M 2004, Hazardous Child Labor, University of Iowa Center for Human Rights, viewed 9
May 2013,
<http://international.uiowa.edu/files/international.uiowa.edu/files/file_uploads/hazardous_child_labor.pdf>
Gupta S, Pirsch J & Girard T 2010, An Empirical Examination of a Multinational Ethical Dilemma: The Issue of
Child Labor, Journal of Clobal Marketing, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 288-305.
Edmonds EV & Pavenik N 2005, Child Labor in the Global Economy, The Journal of Economic Perspectives,
vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 199-220.
Hindman HD & Smith CG 1999, Cross-Cultural Ethics and the Child Labor Problem, Journal of Business
Ethics, vol. 19, no.1, pp. 21 -33.
Wolfe JH & Dickson MA 2002, Apparel Manufacturer and Retailer Efforts to Reduce Child Labor: An ethics of
Virtue Perspectice on Codex of Conduct, Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 183-195.
Pitt, D, Shah, PM, Stersky, G & Williams, A (eds) 1981, child labour: a threat to health and development,
Defence for Children, Geneva.
Fassa, AG, Parker, DL & Scanlon TJ 2010, Child Labour: A Public Health Perspective, Oxford Scholarship
Online, Oxford
Basu, K & Van, PH 1998, The Economics of Child Labor, The American Economic Review, vol. 88, no. 3, pp.
412-

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