Question

Is it ethical for firms to outsource production to 3rd world countries with lower labor costs where most of the population would not have employment otherwise? What about illegal immigrants who come to the U.S. to seek work?

Answer 1

That depends.

Let's start with the definition of the word ethics - ethical is the total standards in a given environment and era.

Can we talk about one global ethics today, one moral code? As always, the answer depends on which side of outsourcing you are on.

Your intentions will always be the common measure: ‘Do not do to another person what is unpleasant for you.’

If the only intention of the decision to outsource is money - usually outsourcing will involve unethical actions.

For example, a drastic reduction of employment, outsourcing work as cheaply as possible in the most remote countries in order to get rid of remorse and responsibility for the exploitation of employees. This usually involves agreeing to poor quality at the expense of quantity.

If the decision to outsource is based on a well-thought-out strategy and the outsourcing partner is selected responsibly, according to criteria tailored to business needs - then outsourcing reveals its best face. It allows you to reach out to a tailored talent pool, focus on your business needs, increase mobility and flexibility and offer attractive wages to your outsourced employees by reducing real unnecessary costs and optimizing resources.

It is very important to have an objective view - how much outsourcing contributes to fair economic and social development?

If a local place becomes a centre of outsourcing in a given industry, specialisation takes place, education is developed in this direction, new jobs are created as well as places to live for the community. However, this may have long-term negative effects - e.g. if a centre ceases to be trendy and profitable, the clients will withdraw and the local community will be left with nothing.

Therefore, as usual, sustainability is essential.

If outsourcing is sustainable, i.e. respecting both sides and their environment, it will be ethical.

But if outsourcing is focused solely on money, it is resulting in unemployment of the people of home country on a large scale, low quality products and so on then it's not ethical at all. Each field of occupation no matter it's agriculture or corporate is bound to some code of ethics and any activity that violates those codes is considred unethical.

Illegal Immigrants:

Research shows that illegal immigrants increase the size of the U.S. economy, contribute to economic growth, enhance the welfare of natives, contribute more in tax revenue than they collect, reduce American firms' incentives to offshore jobs and import foreign-produced goods, and benefit consumers by reducing the prices of goods and services. Economists estimate that legalization of the illegal immigrant population would increase the immigrants' earnings and consumption considerably, and increase U.S. gross domestic product. There is scholarly consensus that illegal immigrants commit less crime than natives.Sanctuary cities—which adopt policies designed to avoid prosecuting people solely for being in the country illegally—have no statistically meaningful impact on crime, and may reduce the crime rate. Research suggests that immigration enforcement has no impact on crime rates.

The illegal immigrant population of the United States peaked by 2007, when it was at 12.2 million and 4% of the total U.S. population. Estimates in 2016 put the number of unauthorized immigrants at 10.7 million, representing 3.3% of the total U.S. population. Since the Great Recession, more illegal immigrants have left the United States than entered it, and illegal border crossings are at the lowest in decades. Since 2007, visa overstays have accounted for a larger share of the growth in the illegal immigrant population than illegal border crossings, which have declined considerably from 2000 to 2018. In 2012, 52% of unauthorized immigrants were from Mexico, 15% from Central America, 12% from Asia, 6% from South America, 5% from the Caribbean, and another 5% from Europe and Canada. As of 2016, approximately two-thirds of unauthorized adult immigrants had lived in the U.S. for at least a decade.

Presently, there are about 10–12 million illegal immigrants who reside in the United States, are unable to legally work, and are thus uncertain about their futures. Almost 17 million people live in families with at least one illegal immigrant in the household, representing 4.6 percent of the U.S. population.

Because of labor market regulations that outlaw the employment of illegal immigrants, they face an estimated wage penalty of 11.3 percent relative to legal immigrants. Granting legal status to illegal immigrants will help solve these and other issues.

But laws regarding migration and citizenship varies in different countries. Although it is universal that any illegal migrant who has a criminal record is seized to be legalized and gain citizenship and even work on a legal and respectable note.

Also there are certain predefined sets of laws that tend to legalize illegal immigrants by granting them citizenship and a respactable status and a work permit within the geographical boundary of a country.