Child Labor Laws: Should Adolescents Be Considered As Adults?

Is 18 the age when someone should be considered an adult? In the article “ How Old Is Old Enough?” Catherine Rampell simplify answers the questions from the world's point of view, she says “ The answer, generally, is 18-the age when the United

Child labor is historically defined as “work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development” (Hansan, 2013). Legally, to be considered child labor, work must involve at least one of the following characteristics:

“ In 1900, 18 percent of all American workers were under the age of 16.”(Foner) Child labor is a terrible thing that children have to go through. Although this was not considered a problem because of how normal it was.(Foner.). But due to the work of investigative journalist children today no longer have to worry about working in these dangerous environments.

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

In the Fact Sheet- Wage and Hour Divisions, it presents the laws that are put into place today include minimum age standards for employment which establishes the hours and occupational standards for youth the age of eighteen, sixteen, fourteen, and under fourteen. As opposed to the nineteenth and twentieth century where children as young as five years old working before these laws had been established. There are also occupations that are banned for all minors under the age of 18 which include “manufacturing or storing explosives, driving motor vehicles, coal mining, using certain power-driven machines, and other occupations that are particularly hazardous or detrimental to health” (Fact Sheet- Wage and Hour Divisions). This is a great advancement from the nineteenth and twentieth century, where lots of children were coal miners, and worked in jobs that required the use of dangerous machinery or chemicals that were unsafe and harmful to their well-being.

The FLSA child labor provisions are designed to protect the educational opportunities of minors and prohibit their employment in jobs and under conditions harmful to their health or well-being. The provisions include restrictions on hours of work for minors under 16 and lists of hazardous occupations guidelines for both farm and non-farm jobs declared by the Secretary of Labor to be too dangerous for minors to perform.

When the Fair Labor Act was created there were many changes before then but it did finally regulate ages and wages of everyone employed. This was a federal act and many states have their own laws pertaining to employment now. Today you usually have to be at least 16 years of age before you can legally work. Sure there are children who babysit and walk dogs but these are not salary based and many times the age is over 12 years of age.

In general the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) has set a general rule that allows minor as young as 14 years of age to work. Of course there are limits to the amount of hours worked. The military requires a minimum age of 17 with parents consent to join. Wow a 17 year old can be allowed to carry and M16 A4 rifle and fight for his/her country. But the National Basketball Association wants to up the age to 20 years old.

To our country 16 years old is a milestone, just like 10, 13, and 18. This day teens don’t get the right to vote, or be seen as an adult by American society- but that day the DMV presents them with the gift of freedom and independence in the form of a driver’s license, provided they pass the test and complete their hours. Is it fair to punish a whole generation of responsible driver’s by making them wait to receive until they got college. Of the average 5,000 teenagers (age 15-17) automobile involved deaths per year, 60% are not wearing seatbelt. Revealed 52% of 16- and 17-year-old teen drivers admit to using, answering, and making cell phone calls on the road. 34% admit to text messaging while driving a vehicle. Revealed 52% of 16- and 17-year-old

Child labor laws have been put in place to protect children who desire to work. During the time of the Industrial Revolution, children were being treated harsh and unfairly. Because of this, it was decided to put in place certain laws to avoid the unfair treatment of these children. These laws include a limitation of age, hours and days worked, and the amount paid. These labor laws are very important to the safety of the working children in our nation.

You appear to be the only responsible and mature person here at this time. The lives lost by drivers between the ages of 16 and 23 are a waste. If drivers 16 were restricted by law to only operate a motor vehicle when accompanied with a 21 year old licensed driver in the front seat with them until their 18th Birthday before they get their unrestricted drivers license this would save many young and innocent lives.

They were taken advantage because they could be paid less and also for being able to get into small spaces to work. Children as young as eight years old worked in factories and mines. Their jobs were usually very dangerous and involved handling deadly equipment. Several states tried to make minimum wage and school attendance policies, but these policies were mostly disobeyed. Industries found loopholes by using foreign workers. Congress tried to pass laws to decrease child labor but the Supreme Court found them unconstitutional (child labor). Eventually the state legislatures enacted a law concerning the legal age children should work. The age varied from state to state but was usually between twelve and sixteen years old (American

The main law regulating child labor in the United States is the Fair Labor Standards Act. In general, for non-agricultural jobs, children under 14 may not be employed, children between 14 and 16 may be employed in allowed occupations during limited hours, and children between 16 and 18 can be employed for unlimited hours in non-hazardous occupations. Thousands of children are trafficked right here in the United States. These kids are not criminals, they are victims. Give them what they need to go from victims to survivors. Millions of children around the world are subjected violence, exploitation and abuse. Many more, not yet victims, also remain without adequate protection. Children disappear every day around the world. They are left to fend for themselves while their parents work long hours,

Age requirements change depending on the type of job the child is doing. For non agricultural labor, the minimum is 14, though with exceptions. The agricultural minimum age requirement in the U.S happens to be between 10 and 15, though this is circumstantial.For hazardous nonagricultural labor the requirement is 18, where as the hazardous agricultural minimum age is 16. Child labor is bad for many reasons. It can cause physical and psychological damage, and seems to be linked to be linked to family poverty. According to the I.L.O. (International Labour Organization), 168 million children worldwide 355,206 of which are 7-14 years old are engaged in child labor as of 2013. Child labor among girls fell 40% since 2000, though boys had only dropped

“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