Download Child Labor through the Years - Connecticut Department of Labor

Child Labor Through the Years
New York child labor bill introduced. 10,000 of the
75,000 striking textile workers in Kennsington, PA were
young children. Many
of them had lost hands,
thumbs or fingers due
to the hazardous working conditions.
England, passed the first child labor
legislation, but it only applied to
pauper apprentices and it was not
enforced.
1842
1802
Massachusetts legislature passed a law
mandating that the working day for children
under 12 years old was limited to ten hours.
1834
General trades
union of New York
worked for child
labor laws
1903
Several states adopted a ten hour workday for children under 12 years of age.
1853
The number of
children working in
the United States
increased after the
American Civil War.
1904
National Child Labor
Committee was formed
to investigate and report
the facts concerning child
labor and to pass suitable
legislation to protect
children from hazardous
work and work hours.
74% of children under age 15 who were killed on the job from 2003 to 2010 were employed in Agriculture.
Child Labor Through the Years
The Commissioner of Labor
found 46% of
the 1.7 million
child laborers
were 13 years
old or younger.
1908
1906
The American Federation of
Labor legislative program
included fighting for child labor
laws, free public schools and
textbooks.
The Spinners and
Doffers boys and girls
in a Cotton mill.
President Wilson signed the Abramson Act-a national child
labor law which banned the sale of products from any
factory, shop, or cannery that employed children under
the age of 14, from any mine that
employed children under the age
of 16, and from any facility that
had children under the age of 16
work at night or for more than 8
hours during the day.
1912
At the American Woolen
Company in Lawrence, MA,
many child laborers died
within the first two or three
years after beginning work,
and 36% of all the men and
women who worked in the mill died before or by the time
they were 25 years old. In response, the Massachusetts state
legislature passed legislation cutting maximum working hours
for children under 18 years old from 56 to 54 hours per week.
1916
1918
Abramson Act overturned by
the Supreme Court on a 5-4
decision that the law was an
unconstitutional because it
overstepped the purpose of
the government's powers to
regulate interstate commerce.
Young Workers 15-24 years-of-age have approximately twice the rate of non-fatal injuries as older workers (2012).
Child Labor Through the Years
1919
AFL program
denounced child
labor, called for
the 40 hours week,
overtime rates,
and protection of
women in industry.
Congress passes
tax on profits of
companies using
child labor
1922
The Supreme Court
ruled the child labor
tax unconstitutional.
1924
The Supreme Court ruled the
National Industrial Recovery Act
unconstitutional
President Hoover endorsed a Constitutional
amendment to give authority to Congress to abolish
child labor. This passes both houses of Congress but
only 28 states ratify, 8 less than the 36 needed
1935
1933
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
proposed the National Industrial
Recovery Act, which was passed by
Congress. It established a minimum
age of 16 for workers in most
industries and 18 in hazardous
industries
The total annual CT Emergency Departments associated with teen worker injuries costs doubled, to nearly $1.4 million (2001 to 2007).
Child Labor Through the Years
The Fair Labor Standards Act included child labor legislation
requiring employers to pay child laborers the minimum wage.
It also limits the age of child laborers to 16 and over, 18 if the
occupation is hazardous. Children 14 and 15 are permitted to
work in certain occupations after school hours. President
Roosevelt signed this into law on June 25,1938.
1938
1941
The International Year of
the Child - studies show
that more than 50
million children around
the world below the
age of 15 were working
in various jobs often
under hazardous
conditions.
1979
2002
The Supreme Court
declared the Fair
Labor Standards
Act constitutional.
Child labor still remains a problem in the United States,
especially among migrant farm families. Currently,
230,000 children are working illegally on farms in the US
and 13,000 children are working illegally in sweat shops.
60,000 children work in the
country's brick kilns…????
Other countries have different
child labor laws and do not
enforce existing laws. In some
countries families are so poor
that children must work to put
food on the table.
In India, some 20,000 children work 16
hour days in match factories
44% of Connecticut teens work a paying job during the school year (2007)