The Macroeconomics Of Child Labor

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 a very real problem in the world today, and although it is declining, progress is happening at a slow and unequal pace. Child labour by the International Labour Organization is defined as “work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development (Diallo, Etienne, & Mehran, 2013, p. 2).” In the most extreme forms of child labour it could account for child enslavement, separation from their families, exposure to serious hazards and illnesses and being left to fend for themselves on the streets (Dinopoulos & Zhao, 2007). In order for certain types of work to be included as “child labour” depends on the child’s age, the type of work,

From quitting school and getting paid a minimum of 25¢ to continuing school and getting paid a minimum of $4.25. During the Industrial Revolution, children would seek work in order to provide for their families and leave school doing so. History.com claims that “In 1900, 18 percent of all American workers were under the age of 16.” Many employers would hire children because they were easier to manage and ultimately could be paid less than adults. Today there are many restrictions on child labor that provide a safe work environment and rights for the youth. Labor conditions have changed since the Industrial Revolution thanks to reform movements and have paved the way for the safer modern day conditions.

“The International Labor Organization estimates that at least 250 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 are working, mostly in the developing world.” Many Americans view child labor as wrong or dangerous, but they do not realize how essential child labor can be in developing countries. In the article “Regulated Child Labor Is Necessary in Developing Countries,” by John Tierney, a current author for the New York Times, focuses on child labor and why it is essential in some developing countries. Tierney creates a sympathetic tone for the readers to try and understand the struggles regarding child labor in developing countries.

When one hears the term “Child Labor”, an image of children making low quality clothing in some dingy third world sweatshop inevitably comes to mind. While this imagery is unfortunately founded in fact, the third world is not the only area complicit with this heinous practice. Truthfully, we, as a nation are also guilty of propagating this heinous practice. For over a century, this nation’s youth were subjugated to exploitation and abuse at the hands of captains of industry in the hopes of extracting every ounce of profit they could. Fortunately, sympathetic individuals recognized the children’s need for advocacy and rose to their defense in the form of organized dissent that appealed to the highest powers of this country to fight for those who could not fight for themselves. In this paper, we will look at what exactly child labor is, the circumstances that gave rise to the widespread acceptance of child labor usage, what working condition these children experienced, and how the United States eventually made its use illegal.

It is estimated that one in six of the world’s children are working in unacceptable conditions and that's about 180 million children worldwide (Kilcullen 218). That is a great deal of children that are exposed to harm or exploitation. The opposing side believes that these poor countries need child labor to survive, that it is alright to pay children low wages for the work they do, and do not believe that schooling is as important as work. By regulating child labor laws, governments would be able to enforce safer working conditions, increase wages to meet the cost of living, and mandate education for better opportunities even though the opposing side disputes these reasons and stance.

To begin, people debated whether child labor during the Industrial Revolution was a social problem or a political problem. During the Industrial Revolution, the extent of child labor changed due to Britain becoming more industrialized. In the article “Child Labor during the British Industrial Revolution,” Wade Thatcher stated that the majority of scholars argued that since there was a plentiful supply

During the Industrial Revolution, there was a major increase in child labor for several reasons. However, the primary causes for this increase in child labor during the Industrial Revolution were particularly unique: They weren’t random, separate, and independent features that just happened to be contemporaneous; they worked in tandem.

Go back in time, and imagine young children no older than 10 working in dangerous smokey mines, there lungs being filled with this smoke, or a little girl working a big sewing machine, one that with one tiny mistake could leave her hand scared, and maybe even broken. Children in tattered clothes, and working jobs that even adults would find difficult. Working long hours, for mere pennies. Today it would be hard to believe that this could ever have occurred, yet sadly in the 1900’s, this was the reality for many of the youth. The National Child Labor Committee had been trying to put an end to child labor since it had been founded in 1904, yet they had faced little success. One reason for this was it had been a controversial debate among many

In the words of an anonymous working class American female, as depicted in Steven L.

With some cases, the father’s income is not enough to feed the family, and the mother can’t get a job so the only option left is sending children into labor. Even if the family isn’t in debt, they still need money for clothes, food, education. Depending on the work, children can go to school and work, others have no choice but to work. According to the Child Labor Public Education Project, some families actually rely on child labor to give them even a chance at a better life, and child labor can give them as little as a penny every week. It also states that over one-fourth of the world’s population lives in poverty, in countries where there is little economic activity or companies where people, mainly men, can earn good wages.

Today we live in a world where technology has made life very easy to live and most times have provided fun. It is hard to imagine what life before machines was like. The Industrial revolution was a period when predominantly agricultural, rural societies in Europe and America became industrial and urban. On the outside, the revolution looked beneficial to everyone. It provided jobs for more than the population and with those jobs came money. The factories that had hundreds of workers made the production of goods faster and easier. However, if a closer look were to be taken then it would be seen that not everything was not as nice as it seemed. Amongst the hundreds of people working in the factories there were children. Children as young as six

In the first place, the global economy, or otherwise know as world economy, is considered as an international exchange of goods and services. The global economy mostly get the goods and services from child labor from the west because they demand for cheap, readily-available goods. There are many factors that lead to child labor on a global scale. These factors include global competition, free trade rules, and the structural adjustment policies. With these factors, the global economy promotes child labor.International competition sometimes slows child labor reforms by encouraging corporations and governments to seek low labor costs by resisting enforceable international standards and repressing trade union activism, (Child Labor Public..).

In the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century of England, the Industrial Revolution occurred. It is marked as an important movement in history because it introduced steam-driven machinery, large factories, and a new working class. With new manufacturing, job opportunities opened up. As the demand for employees rose, that is when the working class also began to rise. However, it not only included adults but children as well. The main reason for children to work is because it benefits the employers and their families economically. Employers made profit by having children work for low wages, and the money the children made would go towards the family income and necessities to survive. The low adult wages would not suffice for a neutral family or extended, so children had no choice but to work and help support their family. Although in need of money, there were too many dangers involved when the children were working. As a result of this, the state legislation had Acts passed for the children’s safety. The Industrial Revolution had many upsides in modernizing England, but it also uncovered that children should not be seen as workers needing money, but as young human beings that need education and protection, and the only way to initiate this is with the involvement of the state.

Economic growth is generally defined as improvements in average per capita income. Child labor is overwhelmingly concentrated in the poorest of households. Hence, growth can impact child labor through changes in living standards when growth benefits the poor. While there is considerable nuance in the literature, it seems reasonable to assume that growth in average per capita income will typically raise the living standards of the poor (Dollar and Kraay 2002). This section argues that improvements in the standard of living of the poor influence child labor by changing how households cope with economic shocks, how households organize their production and consumption, and how households make decisions regarding child time allocation.