child labor laws

Laws passed over many decades, beginning in the 1830s, by state and federal governments, forbidding the employment of children and young teenagers, except at certain carefully specified jobs. Child labor was regularly condemned in the nineteenth century by reformers and authors (see David Copperfield and Oliver Twist), but many businesses insisted that the Constitution protected their liberty to hire workers of any age. In several cases in the early twentieth century, the Supreme Court agreed, declaring federal child labor laws unconstitutional. Eventually, in the late 1930s, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act was upheld by the Court. This law greatly restricts the employment of children under eighteen in manufacturing jobs.

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As states consider loosening laws that regulate child labor, Lewis W. Hine’s early 20th century photographs, which helped child labor laws get passed, are worth our attention once again.

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Red states are responding to employer complaints about a tight labor market by loosening their child labor laws, exposing youngsters to hazardous work and longer hours.

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Today’s drive to roll back state child labor laws is being pushed by conservative groups like the Foundation for Government Accountability in Naples, Fla., a well-funded anti-welfare organization.

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Legislatures in 16 states, Florida prominent among them, have been deliberating rolling back child labor laws.

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This is a coordinated effort being led by a constellation of business lobbying groups and industry associations that would especially benefit from changes in child labor laws.

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child labor child labour

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