Faces Of Slavery

Slavery does not just disappear. It simply reappears in different forms. There is always a demand for labor one way or another. And of course, the cheaper the labor is in whatever terms matter, the better. That simply means there will be more labor available to help get work done, thus freeing up resources for other applications.

The modern day equivalent of slavery (apart from slavery itself) would be outsourcing of production to poor countries, whereby foreign labor is paid pathetically small sums in order to produce goods for their richer employers. Some may argue that it is a fair business transaction that is agreed upon by both sides, and that the employees receive enough money to be reasonably well off considering the cost of living of their countries. That sort of logic is also applied to slaves of old, whereby they are "privileged" to be treated well...or rather...simply not being abused.

Simply put, compensation for outsourced labor can never be fair. If it is fair, as defined by the market rate for labor in the original country, there would actually be a disincentive for companies to outsource. Outsourcing as a cost cutting measure necessitates that costs be lowered and this is achieved by under-compensating labor. Indeed, this does not sound like the traditional definition of slavery, which in modern times is common amongst trafficked humans. That is, people forced to work and often for no pay. Yet, the modern face of wage slavery cannot be ignored, considering how people from poor countries are basically paid an artificially low wage simply because their would-be employers would not pay more and they can do little better locally anyway.