The Debate Over Child Labor

From working 12 hours a day to learning 7 hours a day

"According to an article in Survey Graphic magazine, published in 1937, 10 to 14 year old boys (and a few girls) in southern states worked as “chippers” – those who scarred trees and set pans to catch the gum for turpentine – and “dippers” – those who collected the gum – for little more the eight cents per hour. Children of the same ages often worked in factories as machine helpers or operators for less than 75 cents per day."

"In 1933, Congress passed the National Industrial Recovery Act as part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. For the time it stood, three important changes were made that improved conditions for children and eased the terrible burden borne by adults caught in the Great Depression. First, child labor was outlawed in most industries besides agriculture and domestic work. Thousands of positions that had been filled by children were now open to unemployed adults. Second, a maximum number of hours were set for a standard work week. Employers who had been able to use a single worker for 60 to 80 hours a week would now have to hire two instead. And to help those workers with few hours than before, a minimum wage was established."

Read more at Suite101: A Brief History of Child Labor in America http://www.suite101.com/content/the-history-of-child-labor-in-america-a257217#ixzz1F09zBNM3


An article in the Social Science History Children's and Mothers' Wage Labor in Three Eastern U.S. Cities, 1880-1920 Social Science History - Volume 29, Number 1, Spring 2005, pp. 45-76;