MLM (Multi Level Marketing) is fully legal approach, which unfortunately has been abused by many "programs' (not), which sell worthless staff, or ridiculously overpriced products. Only in these (abusing the system) cases can one reasonably call it a "pyramid", or "head hunting" (see posted picture above
for a good example...).
When you are asking your question, you are assuming that ALL MLMs are pyramids, which is WRONG to start with. But, regardless, perhaps this would help:
When any business relies on "commissions based" marketing, those doing it are not considered to be a "workplace". This is why, such workers may not be earning enough to live of the commissions earnings.
If business takes up the "marketing" as it's own business expense and hires people to actually do the marketing job, these people must be getting at least minimum wages, therefore CAN live of the earnings for as long as they are employed by that business.
Better structured businesses do the "mix" of the above, which usually is a lot better choice for the workers as well. In this model, workers would get the minimum wages, PLUS the compensation, therefore are a lot more likely to perform a lot better on the "workplace".
MLM's pyramid structure comparison
Hybrid Mode
