The Pros And Cons Of Child Labor

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

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:

The progressive era was filled with many pros and many cons which consist of child labour, workplace safety and big business which happened to rule over many small business’. John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and Leland Stanford were known as 3 of the wealthiest men alive as their business’ expanded widely throughout the progressive era. Child labour was common within factories as children would work for for long hours which either ranged from 10-12 hours or, would work until they got the job done. Child labour spread quickly as children would work in unhealthy conditions. Unsafe working conditions had not only been in the children’s jobs but had also ranged throughout many adults jobs. Windows were often fastened and darkened with paint, their would be very little light leaving employees with poor eyesight.

Even though the reluctance of state legislators to ratify the child-labor amendment, legislative attempts to deal with the problem nationally continued, notably during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The National Industrial recovery Act, passed by Congress in 1933, established a minimum age of 16 for workers in most industries. In hazardous industries a minimum age level of 18 was established. This law contributed to a great decrease in the number of yond workers, but the Supreme Court ruled the act unconstitutional in 1935. In the next year the Congress passed the Walsh-Healey Act, which prohibits firms producing goods under federal government contract from employing boys and girls less than 16 years of age.

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

To begin, 18% of American workers in 1900 were below 16 years of age. 25% of the employees in southern cotton mills are below age 15, yet half of the children are younger than 12 (“Child Labor”). The sad truth is that all of this is still going on today. During the Industrial Revolution is when child labor

If you were to go to a restaurant right now how old do you think your waiter would be? Twenty? Thirty? What if I told you that your waiter was an eight year old? What if the eight year wasn’t working in a nice restaurant but instead was working in a dangerous factory? During the Industrial Revolution, child labor was completely legal. In fact, many companies hired children on purpose because they didn’t have to pay them as much and also because they were more obedient than adults. Thankfully child labor is now illegal and you most likely won’t get a job until you’re about 16 years old if not older.

Child labour has been active since 1760. It was especially rife during the industrial Revolution and went on until 1940. It is still seen today in many developing countries. Once the Collieries Act had passed in 1842, all girls, women and boys under 10 years old were prohibited from working underground in the coal mines. During the Industrial Revolution, poor workers and their children lived either in tiny apartments in a dirty ally way or just out on the streets.

“Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology” (“What Is Globalization?”). Globalization’s efforts to produce a higher international trade and reduce expensive fees on imports has multiple advantages and disadvantages that all play a role into this major topic such as a decrease of child labor, decrease of expenses on imports, an increase of communication between countries, a loss of American jobs, and an intense international drug trade.

The term “child labor” refers to children who work to produce a good or service which is then sold for money in a marketplace. Many of these children were either not paid or paid dismal wages. The exact ages of childhood differ between countries and time periods though it is documented that children as young as four were of idle working age in Britain during the Industrial Revolution (Child Labor during the British Industrial Revolution). The two most common forms of children in factories were “Parish apprentice children,” and “free labor children.”

“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

A lot has been done to prevent and regulate child labor. In 1833, a meeting was held at the City of London Tavern, for petitioning parliament in support of the bill for limiting hours of work a factory child could work. A great number of people showed up to support the cause. Laws were established to prevent excessive work hours and to maintain good working conditions. Factories were obligated to follow the new laws that were in place. Not every company followed them, but it did help reduce child labor in England, a big step into improvement and an example for many other countries.

Child labor is the use of children below the age of eighteen years in the processes of production (Yadava et al.,

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 Labour as defined by the International Labour Organisation, work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. This includes interference with their schooling. Child Labour in extreme forms also involves children being separated from their families, exposed to serious hazards and despises or left to fend for themselves on the streets of large cities at an early age. (ILO, n.d.). In Cote d’ Ivoire, a major child labour form is agriculture where children as young as five work in Cocoa farms for cocoa industries, which have been the major revenue of 60% of export for Cote d’ Ivoire. With the rapid growth of the cocoa industry, cheap cocoa is in demand.