Child Labor Through the Years

England, passed the first child labor legislation, but it only applied to pauper apprentices and it was not enforced.

1802

1834

Massachusetts legislature passed a law mandating that the working day for children under 12 years old was limited to ten hours.

General trades union of New York worked for child labor laws

1842

Several states adopted a ten hour work-day for children under 12 years of age.

1853

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 work-ing conditions.

1903

74% of children under age 15 who were killed on the job from 2003 to 2010 were employed in Agriculture.

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.

Child Labor Through the Years

1906 The American Federation of Labor legislative program included fighting for child labor laws, free public schools and textbooks.

1908

The Commis-sioner of Labor found 46% of the 1.7 million child laborers were 13 years old or younger.

The Spinners and Doffers boys and girls in a Cotton mill.

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

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.

Young Workers 15-24 years-of-age have approximately twice the rate of non-fatal injuries as older workers (2012).

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.

Child Labor Through the Years

1919

The Supreme Court ruled the child labor tax unconstitutional.

1922

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

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

1924

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

1933

1935

The Supreme Court ruled the National Industrial Recovery Act unconstitutional

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

1941

1979 1938

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.

44% of Connecticut teens work a paying job during the school year (2007)

The Supreme Court declared the Fair Labor Standards Act constitutional.

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.

60,000 children work in the country's brick kilns…????

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.

2002

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