Child Labor:

history and changes

History of Child labor

Throughout history, children have contributed to the economic upkeep of their families through farming and handicrafts. However, the growth of manufacturing and farm mechanization during the Industrial Revolution in Europe and the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries led to many children working under dangerous conditions in factories and farms. This in turn prompted laws that not only regulated conditions for kids working but also mandated education. Through the years:

  • 1983:The U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act restricts hours and types of jobs for children under age 16.
  • 1973: The Minimum Age Convention, ratified by 172 countries, sets the minimum age for employment but allows some exceptions.
  • 1989: The U.N. enacts the Convention on the Rights of the Child to guarantee the protection of children’s rights to grow and thrive.
  • 1992: The International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) is founded to promote the global elimination of child labor and support countries in their efforts.
  • 1999: The Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention, ratified by 186 countries, requires ending practices like slavery, child trafficking, debt bondage, forced labor in armed conflict, prostitution, pornography, drug trafficking, and other illicit activities.
  • 2021: The U.N. General Assembly declares this to be the Year for the Elimination of Child Labor.
  • 2025: International commitment is set to end all forms of child labor this year under the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals.
kid with harmed arm
An injured young mill worker. Giles Edmund Newsom, photographed on October 23, 1912. Giles was injured while working in Sanders Spinning Mill in Bessemer City, North Carolina, on August 21st, 1912. A piece of machinery fell on his foot, mashing his toe. This caused him to fall onto a spinning machine and his hand went into unprotected gearing, crushing and tearing out two fingers. He told the investigating attorney that he was 11 years old when it happened. He and his younger brother worked in the mill several months before the accident. Their father, R.L. Newsom, tried to compromise with the company when he found the boy would receive the money and not the parents. Their mother tried to blame the boys for getting jobs on their own, but she let them work several months. Their aunt said "Now he's jes got to where he could be of some help to his ma, an' then this happens and he can't never work no more like he oughter."

Child Labor in America 100 Years Ago

At the start of the 20th century, labor in America was in short supply, and laws concerning the employment of children were rarely enforced or nonexistent. While Americans at the time supported the role of children working on family farms, there was little awareness of the other forms of labor being undertaken by young hands. In 1908, photographer Lewis Hine was employed by the newly-founded National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) to document child laborers and their workplaces nationwide. His well-made portraits of young miners, mill workers, cotton pickers, cigar rollers, newsboys, pin boys, oyster shuckers, and factory workers put faces on the issue, and were used by reformers to raise awareness and drive legislation that would protect young workers or prohibit their employment. After several stalled attempts in congress, the NCLC-backed Fair Labor Standards Act passed in 1938 with child labor provisions that remain the law of the land today, barring the employment of anyone under the age of 16.