Child Labor

CHILD LABOR

Darcy cook

Miss Delp

2-13-05

Adolescent Development 1

For children in the USA in 1914, times were not so good. Even in 1996, Douglas L. Kruse studied, and came up with an estimate that 290,200 children were employed unlawfully last year. Some were older teens working too many hours in after school jobs. 59,600 children under age 15 and 13,100 worked in garment sweatshops illegally. Close to 4% of all 12 to 17 year olds working in a given week were illegally employed. They do this because employers save $155 million wages last year by hiring underage children instead of legal workers. In 1938 law set age minimums designed to ease children into working.

- children must wait until age 16 to work in factories or during school hours.

- Children under 14 are barred from most jobs except farming.

- Children under 12 are banned from most farming jobs, but can work on their parents' farm or on a small farm. Children under 18, or under 16 on farms, are barred from a list of jobs deemed hazardous.

This was all just recently, so can you think of what it used to be like? In the spinning factories, the children would be in the spinning room from 7 o'clock in the morning until 6 o'clock at night. Some people say it's good for children to work, that all children should be industrious. But is that the right kind of work? Many spinning rooms have their windows closed all day because the rooms have to be kept damp or the threads will break. Children DO need light and sunshine. Many of the children in the factories grew up without learning how to read or write.

I don't think that this is right, I think we need to put more of