Young Labor
Chapter 2. Child Labor Laws and Enforcement
The Report on the Youth Labor Force was revised in November 2000.
Introduction
This chapter looks briefly at the history of child labor in the United States, and discusses how that history influences youth employment today. It then examines the current Federal child labor provisions, provides a comparison of State child labor laws, and discusses other government programs that directly affect the employment of young workers. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the U.S. Department of Labor’s strategy for combating oppressive child labor and the effectiveness of its compliance strategy.
History of child labor in the United States
Children have worked in America, contributing to the well-being of the family unit, since the arrival of the first colonists. European settlers, bringing social values with them that equated idleness with pauperism, were quick to pass laws that actually required children to work. For example, in 1641, the court of Massachusetts Bay ordered all households to work on wild hemp for clothing, and it was expected that “children should be industriously implied (sic).”1 Adopting “poor laws” similar to the English laws, the colonies required the apprenticeship of poor children—some at ages as young as 3 years. Children worked on family farms and in family cottage industries. The institution of slavery also encompassed the labor of children born or sold into servitude. The industrial revolution ushered in the modern factory system and changed a predominately rural populace into an
urban one. Factory towns grew up dependent on a labor supply of women and children, the children working not necessarily as apprentices but as factory labor. Children were seen as a cheap and manageable source of labor. Newspaper advertisements of the day reflected the fact that factory managers preferred to hire families with several children, and widows with children were especially favored. Child labor in this
The Report on the Youth Labor Force was revised in November 2000.
Introduction
This chapter looks briefly at the history of child labor in the United States, and discusses how that history influences youth employment today. It then examines the current Federal child labor provisions, provides a comparison of State child labor laws, and discusses other government programs that directly affect the employment of young workers. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the U.S. Department of Labor’s strategy for combating oppressive child labor and the effectiveness of its compliance strategy.
History of child labor in the United States
Children have worked in America, contributing to the well-being of the family unit, since the arrival of the first colonists. European settlers, bringing social values with them that equated idleness with pauperism, were quick to pass laws that actually required children to work. For example, in 1641, the court of Massachusetts Bay ordered all households to work on wild hemp for clothing, and it was expected that “children should be industriously implied (sic).”1 Adopting “poor laws” similar to the English laws, the colonies required the apprenticeship of poor children—some at ages as young as 3 years. Children worked on family farms and in family cottage industries. The institution of slavery also encompassed the labor of children born or sold into servitude. The industrial revolution ushered in the modern factory system and changed a predominately rural populace into an
urban one. Factory towns grew up dependent on a labor supply of women and children, the children working not necessarily as apprentices but as factory labor. Children were seen as a cheap and manageable source of labor. Newspaper advertisements of the day reflected the fact that factory managers preferred to hire families with several children, and widows with children were especially favored. Child labor in this