Child Labor in U.S. History - Literature review Example

s Child Labor Introduction Child Labor influences United s economy in many ways both negative and positive. It also affects the children in both positive and negative manner. In the United States, child labor started way back in the late 1700s and early 1800s and it has grow rapidly ever since due to a number of factors. The major factors influencing the occurrence of child labor include; poverty, some cultural beliefs, lack of alternative and microeconomic factors. Consequently, around the world and in the United States, growing difference between rich and poor in recent ten years have pushed millions of young children out of school and into work (nytimes.com). In fact, an estimated 215 child laborers around the globe: nearly 114 million which is (53%) are in Asia and the Pacific; in Latin America they are 14 million (7%); and 65 million making up (30%) live in sub-Saharan Africa (ilo.org).Consequently, child labor is to some extent beneficial to the economy as it result to low consumer prices due to low production cost (ilo.org). However, it is harmful to the children as it denies them their right of being children. Child labor in United States Child labor is work that do harm to children or keeps them from attending school. According to UNICEF, child labor involves working children who are below a certain minimum age It involves at least one of the following characteristics: violates a nation’s minimum age laws, threatens children’s mental, physical, or emotional well-being, in some instances it involves intolerable abuse, such as child trafficking, child slavery, debt bondage, forced labor or illicit activities, prevents children from attending school and uses children to undermine labor standards (unicef.org). Around the world and in the United States, growing gaps between rich and poor in recent ten year have pushed millions of young children out of school and into work. Furthermore, the International Labor Organization give an estimate that 215 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 currently work under conditions that are regarded illegal, extremely exploitative or hazardous. Moreover, underage children work at all kinds of jobs all over the world, usually because they and their families are real poor. Furthermore, large numbers of children work in commercial agriculture, manufacturing, fishing, domestic services and mining. Some children work in illicit activities like prostitution and drug trade or other traumatic activities. History of Child Labor in U.S Child labor started way back in the late 1700s and early 1800s. During this times hand labor replaced power- driven machines in most manufacturing activities. Factories began to spring up everywhere, initially in England then later on in United States (continuetolearn.uiowa.edu). Further, the owners of these factories found a new source of labor to run their machines that is children. According to the owners these machines did not require adult strength, and therefore children could be hired more cheaply than adults ( Hindman, 25). Consequently, by the mid 1800’s, child labor was wide spread. Children had always worked, especially in farming. Factory work was hard, nevertheless, a child could work 12 to 18 hours a day, six days a week, to earn a dollar. Moreover, many children began working before the attaining the age of 7, tending machines in spinning mills or hauling heavy loads. The factories were often damp, dirty and dark. Some children worked underground, in coal mines. As a result, the working children had no time to play or go to school, and little time to rest. By 1810, about 2,000,000 school-age children were working 50- to 70-hour weeks. Most of them came from poor families thereby, when parents could not support their children, they sometimes turned them over to a factory or mill owner. Consequently, from 1802 to 1878, a series of laws in a gradual manner shortened the working hours, made better the conditions, and raised the age at which children could work (continuetolearn.uiowa.edu). However, in the United States it took many years to declare child labor illegal. One of the British colonies that formed the United States passed a law in 1813 saying that working children must have some schooling. Thereafter, by 1899 a total of 28 states had passed laws regulating child labor. By 1900, American children worked in large numbers in glass factories, mines, textiles, canneries, agriculture, home industries, and as messengers, newsboys, peddlers and bootblacks. Since child labor had become a major problem in 1918 and 1922 the U.S Congress passed two laws, which unfortunately were declared by the Supreme Court unconstitutional. Furthermore in 1988, Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act. Whereby, it fixed 16 as the minimum age for working during school hours, 14 for some jobs after school, and 18 for work that causes harm. Apparently, today all the states and the United States the government has laws regulating child labor. Moreover, these laws have cured the worst evils of childrens working in factories. However, some kinds of work are not controlled according to rule (Hindman, 5). Children of migrant workers, for example, have no legal protection. Farmers may legally employ them outside of school hours. The children pick crops in the fields and move from place to place, so they get little schooling. Argument on effects of child labor From the history of child labor and different research studies, child labor becomes a crucial thing since it is surrounded by controversies on whether it’s a good thing or bad thing. Evidently, it has both good and bad aspects to the economy and the children. Consequently, child labor can be look at in a negative and a positive way. These results to a situation, whereby classifying it as bad or good is not appropriate. As much as child labor is harmful and dangerous to children due to its impact in their physical body and mental health, taking the jobs away from the children can potentially worsen their living standards (Marlenga, 278).  Discouraging and putting regulations against child labor makes the children susceptible to jobs dangerous to them such as drug trafficking and prostitution. It is also argued that, it is not fair to deny children the right to work as that will be denying them to enjoy their basic needs which they get from their pay. However, it’s against children right to deny children going to school or even playing just as it should be. Generally, the children who work and at the same time attend school perform poorly in their academic. As much as they need the money their future is jeopardized since with poor performance they would not go to good colleges nor will they get good job. Therefore, the trend of child labor will continue as they will not be able to take care of their children as required (Levine, 67). In other instances, child labor is harmful to children since it evident that children have been working under very unhealthy and hazardous conditions. Moreover, their working environments were so unsafe that fatal accidents were an everyday routine. For instance; Children working in the agriculture sector continue to have the highest rate of fatal work injuries compared with children in other working environments, with the influence of these fatal injuries happening on farms that are family owned and operated. Protection from physical harm is a key human right for children, and it is well realized that children need higher standards of protection than adults. The good aspect of Child Labor Child labor is good to the economy of United State in a number of ways. First, child labor lead to cheaper and a wider range of goods and services in the economy. Eventually, consumers, firms and the government benefit from it. Second, child labor benefits the consumers because they are able to consume goods and services at a cheaper price. If industries in United States use child labor the consumers will get goods at a low price. In addition, firms also get benefits as they make more profit as a result of cheaper production cost. Generally, child labor is cheaper in production compared to adult labor. For instance; employers in a garment industry in New York City have turned to the children of people who have entered the country illegally, in an attempt to compete with good bought from foreign countries that have low-wage rate. Consequently, use of children in this industry means low production costs with this they are able to compete with the imports from the countries with low-wage rates (Cigno et al, 35). The bad aspect of Child Labor Child labor has several bad effects on children. First, a child laborer remains uneducated and is unable to take care of his own family when he is a grown up. Therefore, these forces him to make his children work and thus the cycle is caused to continue. This trend is bad as it makes the problem of child labor hard to curb and reduce. Second, children reach mental and emotional maturity at a very early age. This is highly dangerous as such children start displaying pseudo adult behavior such as smoking and displays of aggression. Obviously, this is not healthy for children growth, as it is recommended that children should be left to live their childhood and grow systematically doing the right activities at the right time. Child labor denies children the pleasures of being young and dependent (Preston ). Third, children and young people are often paid much less for work done than adults while being forced to work as much as adults. As a results, pushing adults competing for jobs out of the market. Eventually, this leads to exploitation of the children. Fourth, many children who work either withdraws from school or find that their educational performance declines because of the work they are doing. Furthermore, throughout history, children have been in an active manner engaged in paid work under very unhealthy and hazardous conditions. Consequently, the environments they worked in were so unsafe that fatal accidents were a daily routine. Presently, there are approximately 250 million children under the age of 15 who are a part of the labor industry. Moreover, the working terms have not changed; in fact, they have gotten worse (Marlenga, 276).  Fifth, growth deficiency is common among working children, who tend to be shorter and lighter than other children; these deficiencies also impact on their adult life. Lastly, Child labor deprives the child of a proper childhood. Moreover, the child is not able to get the nurture, attention and care that are fundamental for his all round growth and development (Herumin, 2). Consequently, this may lead to many psychological imbalances which are in many cases expressed in the form of low self esteem, increased aggressiveness among other. Problem Child labor is a problem in the United States and world at large. It started way back in the late 1700s and early 1800s and it has grow rapidly ever since due to many factors. Therefore, child labor is a problem that is as a result of certain factors. Different researcher and economist have come up with different findings. These finding include; According to ILO, among the major factors driving children to harmful labor are; lack of meaningful alternatives, such as affordable schools and quality education. Consequently, children work because they have nothing better to do. Moreover, many communities, specifically rural areas where between 60-70% of child labor is common, do not have adequate school facilities (ilo.org). Even when schools are sometimes available, they are too far away, unaffordable, difficult to reach or the quality of education is so poor that parents wonder if going to school is really worth it. Another, problem causing child labor is certain cultural beliefs have rationalized child labor and thereby encouraged it. Some look at that work as good for the character-building and skill growth and development of children (Grootaert et al, 17). Consequently, in many cultures, particular where informal economy and small household businesses thrive, the cultural tradition is that children follow in their parents footsteps; child labor then is a means to learn and practice that trade from a very young age. International Labor Organization (ILO) implies that poverty is the greatest single cause behind child labor in some part of United States. Generally, for impoverished households, income from a childs work is usually crucial for his or her own survival or for that of the household (ilo.org). Moreover, income from working children, even if small, may be between 25 to 40% of these household incomes. Furthermore, other scholars like Harsch on African child labor, and Pavcnik and Edmonds on global child labor have reached the same conclusion. Finally, scholars from different areas suggest that inflexible labor market, inability of industries to scale up, size of informal economy and lack of modern manufacturing technologies are major macroeconomic factors affecting demand and acceptability of child labor. Solutions According to UNICEF statistics, there are an estimated 250 million children aged 5 to 14 years employed in child labor worldwide and this figure is continuously going up. Moreover, child labor not only causes damage to a child’s mental and physical health but also keep him deprive of his basic rights to education, development, and freedom (unicef.org). According to International Labor Organization (ILO), if child labor will be forbidden by law and all children get proper education; total world income would be raised by nearly 22% over 20 years, which accounts for more than $4 trillion. Therefore, banning child labor will be of much help in giving a boost the economy of a country (ilo.org). Therefore, laws and regulations should be put in place to ensure parents take care of their children so that they can not need to work. Furthermore, these regulations should ensure parents only get children that they can take of. Also, the U.S government should set up programs that help the needy children with basic needs so that they can be comfortable during their schooling (Grootaert et al, 17). Civic education and awareness creation on the effects of child labor to the U.S citizen at large will be a big step in curbing the problem of child labor. Most parents allow their children to work without really knowing the effects it has in their social and mental life. Child labor is harmful to children both physical due to the harsh working environment and mentally since they are forced to behave like grown ups while working. Conclusion Child Labor influences United States economy in many ways both negative and positive. It also affects the children in both positive and negative manner. As much as economist see it as a boost and a good thing for the economy, other areas such as human right see child labor as a violation of children right. This has led to debates on whether child labor is good or bad. Apparently, the bad aspect of child labor that is it has a bad impact on children has taken the majority. Therefore, measures to curb and reduce it have been put in place by the relevant authorities. Further, although child labor has been considerably eliminated, it is still a cause of problems in a few areas of the economy. Moreover, violations of the child labor laws go on among migrant agricultural workers who are economically impoverished (Fassa, et al). For example; Employers in the garment industry in New York City have turned to the children of illegal immigrants in an attempt to compete with goods brought from low-wage nations. Consequently, the recent liberalization of the federal governments rules in relation to work done at home also increases the likelihood of illegal child labor. Finally, regardless of the existing laws restricting the number of hours of work for those still going to school, some children go on to work beyond the set number of hours or hold jobs forbidden by law (Herumin, 4). Furthermore, effectiveness in enforcement is different from state to state. Obviously, the United States has not yet eliminated all the violation and abuses; however it has met the objective of the reformers of child labor and determined by law and general practice that children shall not be full-time workers. References " Child Labour ." International Labour Organization . N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2013. . "Child Labor in U.S. History - The Child Labor Education Project." University of Iowa :: Division of Continuing Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2013. . "Child Labor Provision in Agricultural Occupations Under the Fair Labor Standards Act". U.S.Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Divisionl. June 2007. Retrieved 29 March 2013 "Child Labor Provision for Nonagricultural Occupations Under the Fair Labor Standards Act". U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division. July 2010. Retrieved 29 March 2013 Cigno, Alessandro, and Furio C. Rosati. The economics of child labour. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Print. Fassa, Anaclaudia, David L. Parker, and Thomas J. Scanlon. Child labour: a public health perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print. Gifford, Clive. Child labor. Mankato, Minn.: Smart Apple Media, 2010. Print. Grootaert, Christiaan , and Ravi Kanbur. Child Labor: A Review, Issue 1454. New York: World Bank Publications, 2005. Print. Pp 17 Herumin, Wendy . Child Labor Today: A Human Rights Issue . New York: Enslow Publishers, Inc., 2011. Print. Hindman, Hugh D.. Child labor: an American history. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 2002. Print. Hindman, Hugh D.. The world of child labor an historical and regional survey. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 2009. Print. Levine, Marvin J.. Children for hire: the perils of child labor in the United States. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2003. Print. Marlenga,, Barbara, Richard L. Berg, and James G. Linneman. "Changing the Child Labor Laws for Agriculture: Impact on Injury." Am J Public Health 97.2 (2007): 276–282.. Print. Preston, Julia. "Child Labor - News - Times Topics - The New York Times." Times Topics - The New York Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2013. . "UNICEF - Child protection from violence, exploitation and abuse." UNICEF - UNICEF Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2013. . Read More