Are bad jobs at bad wages are better than no jobs at all?

In the wake of the “This is what a feminist looks like” 62p-an-hour t-shirts scandal, our director, Philip Salter, considers the words of noted economist Paul Krugman in his 1997 essay, “In Praise of Cheap Labor”.

The revelation that the t-shirts created by The Fawcett Society as part of a campaign for women’s equality were in fact manufactured in a Mauritian sweatshop has been described as a monumental own goal.

As Salter points out in his Forbes column, the t-shirts on sale are expected to be recalled and production moved to Britain. But what about the sweatshop workers, he asks? Was Krugman right to make the case, back in 1997, that bad jobs at bad wages are better than no jobs at all? Read more here.