FACTS ABOUT sweatshops
- 85% of sweatshop workers are young women between the ages of 15-25.
- Sweatshop workers earn as little as ½ to ¼ of what they need to get for basic nutrition, shelter, energy, clothing, education and transportation.
- In order to meet the basic nutritional needs of their families, sweatshop workers spend between 50% to 75% of their income on food alone. Plus the rest on other needs.
- Common sweatshop goods include tires, auto parts, shoes, toys, computer parts, electronics, and nearly every other kind of manufactured good.
- The U.S. government often gives foreign aid to those same countries whose poverty is directly linked to the using of sweatshops by US businesses operating abroad.
- A recent poll showed that 76% of Americans believe that workers should be protected just as the big companies are.
- According to the Department of Labor, over 50% of U.S. clothes factories are sweatshops. Many sweatshops are run in this country's following states: California, New York, Dallas, Miami and Atlanta.
- There are probably sweatshops in every country in the world - because the more desperate people are the harder the work gets.
- Many Americans believe the clothing they purchase is made in America. but actually, most of the private clothing companies make there clothes in at least 48 countries around the world, and definitely not in the U.S.