I assume you’re making the argument that a motivated worker does better work and if they do better work they’re more productive and thus make more profit. However, a motivated worker also costs more so really the profit maximum is somewhere between worker production and how much you’re paying for the worker. Now imagine how little the prison worker is paid. Different sources give different numbers but all of it ends up in the ballpark of $1/h. The federal minimum wage is $7.5/h. That means a minimum wage worker would have to be at least 7 times more productive than the prison laborer and that’s just the floor of what you’re legally supposed to pay. If we talk about the average american we’re talking about needing to be around 10-11 times for efficient than a prison worker.
Slave labor is the most efficient way to make a profit. because you’re effectively paying nothing to produce something that you could sell at market value.
I assume you’re making the argument that a motivated worker does better work and if they do better work they’re more productive and thus make more profit. However, a motivated worker also costs more so really the profit maximum is somewhere between worker production and how much you’re paying for the worker. Now imagine how little the prison worker is paid. Different sources give different numbers but all of it ends up in the ballpark of $1/h. The federal minimum wage is $7.5/h. That means a minimum wage worker would have to be at least 7 times more productive than the prison laborer and that’s just the floor of what you’re legally supposed to pay. If we talk about the average american we’re talking about needing to be around 10-11 times for efficient than a prison worker.
Slave labor is the most efficient way to make a profit. because you’re effectively paying nothing to produce something that you could sell at market value.