Child Labor Essay

As early as the 1830’s Child Labor in the U.S. was already starting to arise. In rural communities child labor on the farm was common, children being employed in factories or mills didn’t seem to be much of a concern to people. In 1830 laws were passed prohibiting children to be hired in an industrial or factory type setting. By 1800, some states passed a large amount of laws prohibiting child labor. Often times these laws did not apply to immigrants so they were often abused on the immigrants which lead to the immigrants living in poor places working for long hours for very little pay. Immigrant or not, child labor back in the 1800’s was a way of life.

During the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s child labor was a social issue that developed in the United States. In the early 1900’s, so many children ages 16 and under were working in American mine and factories. Our kids should not be forced to work at such an early age, they need education and a good childhood that they will always remember. Some children that are as young as 4 years old are being forced to work in crammed, dangerous factories. These factories are full of poisonous fumes and diseases that can obviously kill. Kids as young as 13 are being forced to work around 13 hours a day. Working these 13 hours is exactly what most adults are working at the time. Kids are also earning a lower wage since they are minors, employers

Throughout history, children have always worked, either as apprentices or servants. However, child labor reached a whole new scale during the time period of the Industrial Revolution. Throughout the time frame of late 1800s-early 1900s, children worked long hours in dangerous factory conditions for very little wages. They were considered useful as laborers because their small stature allowed them to be cramped into smaller spaces, and they could be paid less for their services. Many worked to help support their families, and by doing so, they forwent their education. Numerous nineteenth century reformers and labor groups sought to restrict child labor and to improve working conditions.

The Congress had passed the Keating-Owens act in 1916 banned the selling of products that were manufactured by companies that had child workers that worked for more than 8 hours a day and were less than 14 years old (OurDocuments.gov).This was passed but later removed because it was said to be unconstitutional because “it overstepped the purpose of the government's powers to regulate interstate commerce” (OurDocuments.Gov). Even though the government removed the Keating-Owens Act the reformers did manage to set in place state laws that gave minimum age requirements in certain places and limited amount of hours to work for those underage.

But child labor also provided the help needed in farming families and communities. Child labor was needed in the rural farming areas, dictated by essential daily chores and the requirements of the agricultural seasons. Poor families relied upon child labor in order to attain basic necessities and living essentials. The jobs allocated to children depended on their age and whether they were boys or girls. Farm work could be hard, but working conditions were not dangerous and at least allowed kids to breath the fresh air. The use of child labor, and the risks and working conditions of children, underwent a enormous change in the 1800's. Industry developed on an extensive scale and the mechanization of industry resulted in the abuse of children who were forced to work in terrible conditions in factories, mines and mills. This article provides the history of child labor in America during the 1800's, the following links provide facts and information about events that were particularly relevant to the subject of child

Hundreds of thousands of children under the age of 18 are working in agriculture in the United States. According to The Daily Transcript, “Many young people ages 13 to 16 work 70 to 80 hours a week and risk pesticide poisoning, heat illness, injuries and lifelong disabilities.” With this going on, children are being exposed to harm that they may or may not even be aware of. Child labor is more common in the United States (and all over the world) than one might think. There are laws currently in place dealing with child labor, “…which prohibit 12 and 13-year-olds from working most jobs, except on farms, and also say that youths aged 14 and 15 may not work in hazardous jobs, including construction.” (The Daily Transcript). Although these laws are in place, in 2010, 467 child-labor violations were found and

According to The Associated Press, “many young people ages 13 to 16 work 70 to 80 hours a week and risk pesticide poisoning, heat illness, injuries and lifelong disabilities.” If these children worked everyday of the week, they would be doing over 10 hours per day. Consequently, this extreme labor can leave lifelong physical and mental scars. There are many safety precautions that are ignored when it comes to agricultural child labor. Louis Whitman, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Children’s Rights Division, states that “‘U.S. laws should be changed to protect the health, safety and education of all children’” because “The report said these abuses are possible because the laws governing child labor in agriculture are much less stringent than those for other types of work”(The Associated Press). Because agricultural child labor is not regulated, more children are able to be put in this dangerous field of

During the 18 and beginning of the 19th century in certain regions of the U.S child labor made up more than 40 percent of the population (Wolensky). That’s almost half of the working population. Since the beginning of time children have always been known to help their families with domestic tasks. Most of these kids worked in factories because they were easy to control and paid less than adults. Kids earned less than half of what adults made in the work force. In these factories they usually cleaned under and inside machines while functioning because of their small size.. That’s how these kids felt as it was described in a article in our history book. They were always in danger of getting hurt or even dying, which many did. Kids as young

(pg. 47) “A taboo is considered to be a norm so strong that it brings extreme sanctions, even revulsion, if violated.” Child labor is rarely talked about in the U.S. because it is so repulsive to us as citizens that we don’t want to acknowledge that it is taking place. We are under the impression that the government would not allow this type of thing to happen, but in agriculture, there is little to no regulation on labor.

Children were working as young as seven sometimes even younger. Children were also missing school for work and working long debilitating hours. Children often worked in factories because they were small and more children could fit intern this would lead to more work getting done. Children also had smaller hands and this allowed them to fix machines if they were broken. However, machines are dangerous and would sometimes injure or cut off a hand or finger of a child. In present day there are many laws benefiting how many hours a child can work based on their age. “The federal child labor provisions, authorized by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938, also known as the child labor laws, were enacted to ensure that when young people work, the work is safe and does not jeopardize their health, well-being or educational opportunities. These provisions also provide limited exemptions” (U.S. Dept. of child labor). Child labor laws are now in place to protect children while they work. Children can now work safely and receive an education at the same

The numbers matched up from those of the previous primary source document. It shows the changes made for children working in factories. From the primary source, a majority of the workers were between ages eleven through twenty-six. It states that in 1833 the legislation limited the hours for children to work in Britain. Children ages thirteen and under were reduced to nine hours per day and children thirteen to eighteen were reduced to twelve hours per day.

Child Labor is not an isolated problem. The phenomenon of child labor is an effect of economic discrimination. In different parts of the world, at different stages of histories, laboring of child has been a part of economic life. More than 200 million children worldwide, some are as young as 4 and 5

Although children had been servants and apprentices throughout most of human history, child labor reached new extremes during the Industrial Revolution.There was a big impact on the daily life of a child labourer as poor children often worked full time jobs with minimal pay in order to help support their families. Young children worked long hours in factories under dangerous conditions. children were easier to manage and control than adults because their size was perfect as it allowed them to move in small spaces in factories or mines.The practice of child labor continued throughout much of the Industrial Revolution until laws were eventually passed that made child labor illegal.

“Child labor usually means work that is done by children under the age of 15 (14 in some developing countries) that restricts or damages a child's physical, emotional, social and/or spiritual growth.”1

Child labor is work for children, but also harmful to their growth physically, mentally or emotionally. Children were forced to work because of their family’s extremely poor condition where they may be needed to drop out of school. In most kinds of