Why do escorts become escorts?

Sounds nice. I have this funny mental image of a rich dude and he get an escort for the evening but just wants company whilst he's hanging out in London, seeing the sights and having a laugh with her lol.

Honestly, why?
But just having sex with random people? I honestly wouldn't do that for any money. ?

There are two major things.

1. I don't suppose you've had to finance your own lodgings and living expenses. If you perform the calculation, a modest lifestyle can easily cost £15,000.00/year post-taxes. If you're a full time worker earning £7.00/hour, you're only earning £14,500.00 or thereabouts gross-income. That leaves no room for holidays, emergency expenses, savings for a pension or mortgage, income-taxes, etc.

There's high anxiety and low economic mobility - in effect, wage slavery. The economic argument makes a lot of sense when someone has a lot of debt, or has a specific goal like a downpayment for a mortgage, or wants to live a better lifestyle.

2. It seems you're under the presumption that there is no choice or screening or selection process, and the escort is obliged to accept all clients. This is not the case, escorts may choose to reject any clients she wishes, and has a lot of freedom with respect to what services she's willing to offer and what safety precautions she chooses to take (insofar as paying for a bodyguard in some instances).

She might choose not to discriminate based solely on physical attractiveness, because that would be like a waiter only serving attractive patrons, but she may exclude certain age ranges or backgrounds as it does involve consent. She may choose to only see hygienic, respectful patrons who don't chain smoke or have a 50 inch beer gut. She may choose to not provide services that physically hurt her, or otherwise make her feel uncomfortable.

It'll be quite a different discussion if you're talking about street prostitutes, where arguments about exploitation (involving some sort of implicit/explicit coercion) comes into play, as well as all the other risks like assault/battery/drugs/trafficking/STDs/etc are much more prominent.

Perhaps you don't have the financial pressures of these people, and sex is more personal to you. It's not true for everyone, and escorts can lead perfectly happy lives.

Because it's better than working in retail.

Immorality, vanity, greed, consumerism/materialism/fast money, lack of shame.

You seem to be confusing escorts with prostitutes. Not saying some escorts don't provide 'optional extras' but generally, they're not the same.

No useful skills, but they want a better standard of living than can be provided for by the low wage jobs they are eligible for.

1) That would be a very small minority
2) The pay per hour for the sex work would be many times greater than the pay per hour for whatever regular job they could get, allowing them to have a much better standard of living.

try around £1000 a day

That's rubbish. The TV docs where they interview high end escorts are all well and good, but that's not an average wage for a woman working as an escort.

I don't know how my post is misguided. I said that the pay per hour for sex work is greater than the pay per hour for a regular job. I never implied that they were doing it for 19 hours a day. Also a quick google search suggests that £40 per hour is a bit on the low side.

nah, i'd say the going rate for most WGs is gonna be around the £250 per hour and getting 3 or 4 punters a day is about the norm i'd guess.

the difference between them and the high class girls is the high class girl only has to be with 1 man for the £1k

I would go as far to say that 99% of "escorts" have sex with every client. You're talking high end escorts that aren't doing that.

The majority of escorts are high end. It's an industry aimed at the rich. Nobody wants to turn up to a sophisticated party with a cheap tart on their arm.

Throw a quick google search and check the low end. No chance are any of them pulling 3-4 men a day at even knock down prices. your estimates are way off.