Child Labor Essay

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

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

child labor laws during the Progressive Era and some that still stay today; including the first child labor law know as the Keating-Owen bill of 1916 as stated by Our Documents. “The act banned the sale of products from any factory, shop, or cannery that employed children under the age of 14, from any mine that employed children under the age of 16, and from any facility that had children under the age of 16 work at night or for more than 8 hours during the day” (Our Documents). There was also many other laws like the child labor tax law, the 1999 Child Labor Deterrence Act, the 1938 law that allows children to work in agriculture legally, the Keating-Owen Bill and in 1938 the Fair Labor Standards Act law that placed limits on many forms of child labor signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as stated by Reid Maki from Stop Child Labor. In addition, many of the legislations were unconstitutional by the supreme court, but other legislations like the Fair Labor Standards Act which regulates child labor is still in use today as stated by

In the 21st century, our whole economy is depended upon technology. However, from the end of the Civil War and into the early 1900s, the economy was industrializing. However, industrialization created a larger need for larger workforce. The working conditions changed, but it often caused hardships for workers. As a result, the government, groups and individuals attempt to solve many problems such as low wages, child labor, and unsafe working conditions through the passing of laws and workers’ union.

(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.

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

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.

Child labour is the employment of children as money earners. It became a serious social problem in the Industrial Revolution in Britain during the 1700's, and the problem spread to other countries as they became industrialized. The problem arose when children, many below the age of 10, were employed by factories and mines. The youths were forced to work long hours under dangerous and unhealthy conditions, and their wages were very small. Child workers were often deprived of the chance to attend school. Uneducated, the only work they were capable of doing was unskilled labor. Thus, they had little chance to improve themselves.

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

At the beginning of the industrial revolution in America, laws that prevented children from working was not established, and this allowed businesses to utilized children as an inexpensive form of labor. By the 1900s there were over one million children working in the labor force. Most of those young workers were from a poor or immigrant family. They were put to work at an early age usually between five to sixteen years old. In the article, “The History of Child Labor During the American Industrial Revolution” by Jennifer Wagner, discusses about how most of these youngsters worked in unsafe conditions in:

Restricted hours are often not an issue for these children because many of them are homeschooled and can do work during the time they are legally supposed to be in school. The majority of farmers call this form of labor household chores, and it is very difficult to persecute them for it because of this. Until this can be abolished, the use of hazardous child labor will still be in effect in America. However, we must examine why this method of labor is still used. It is because farmers often do not make enough money to hire proper workers.

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 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