RICHMOND, Va., July 18 (UPI) -- More than three-quarters of U.S. residents would try to avoid purchasing clothing made by child labor, a poll released Thursday indicated.
The survey for ChildFund International found that 55 percent would be willing to pay higher prices for clothing they were sure was made by adult workers. On average, respondents said they would be willing to pay 34 percent more.
"These survey findings provide telling insight into Americans' attitudes about child labor and should help companies understand that they need not make economic choices over moral ones," said Anne Lynam Goddard, president and CEO of ChildFund. "I believe that American consumers will become increasingly educated about the source of the products they purchase and begin making more knowledgeable and ethically driven buying decisions."
The poll also found, however, that U.S. residents are not award of how widely child labor is used. While the U.N. children's agency UNICEF estimates as many as 150 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 are working worldwide, 73 percent of poll respondents put the number at 1 million or fewer.
The poll was conducted online by Ipsos between June 26 and June 30. Ipsos surveyed 1,022 adults selected at random from its online panel. The margin of error is 2.5 percentage points.
