Is it really acceptable for children to be working in sweatshop conditions to bring us cheap trainers from brands that make vast amounts of money anyway? No seems to be the obvious response, but the answer is a little more complicated than a simple no I would argue.

The dilemma is a big one. For manufacturers in fiercely competitive markets it may come down to a decision to outsource to countries with dubious moral standards where they have little control over the factories, or go out of business. The pro here of child labour is that it helps to keep big fat western firms in business. Big deal you say.

Actually these large firms are a fairly great benefit to the world economy - providing employment, paying taxes and producing cheap goods for consumers. Most important perhaps is the employment part, and especially in developing countries this is likely to include a lot of cheap child labour.

The problem with this is that safety standards can be very low in these factories in order to keep productivity as high as possible - after all there are few benefits that need to be paid to injured workers, and they can be replaced almost instantly. Few people would argue that it is good practice to subject children to this kind of treatment.

But before we make any resounding judgements and refuse to buy unethical trainers, we have to consider the alternative to this: because even child labourers are paid for their work, and wages throughout the developing world are inexorably rising. Abject poverty, and the disease and starvation that goes with it, is arguably much worse than long hours and hard conditions in a factory, because factory workers have a bed to sleep in and food to eat. If they want to, they can quit their jobs.

The other important thing to remember is that industrialisation allows for economic growth which in turn brings rapid improvements in living standards. As workers spend their money, this provides income to shopkeepers, who then go on to spend that money and so on and so forth. This is known to economists as the multiplier effect, and is a powerful engine for growth. If people have no money, it cannot happen.

That does not mean to say that I condone child labour in sweatshops, but I find it a difficult puzzle to solve, and one that really only time can be the healer of. During the Industrial Revolution in Britain child labour was abused terribly, and was an abhorrence that I am quick to condemn. However, as much as I hate to say it, it is part of the reason why children no longer have to climb chimneys or crawl into moving machines to collect a dropped tool.

While the economics allow it, child labour it seems is set to continue.

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