Child Labor

Child labor is a complex phenomenon that has been complicated further by definitional difficulties. Traditionally, many government officials, union representatives, and social reformers have used the term child labor to refer to any wage work by children in the labor market. Oftentimes, they have argued that all such work is harmful to children and, therefore, “child labor” should be prohibited. In recent years, increasing numbers of commentators have come to define child labor more narrowly as that work that is harmful to children as distinct from other forms of work either not harmful or beneficial to their development. The present article uses the terms child work or child employment to refer to children's engagement in any economic activity with the term child labor reserved for their participation in those that are harmful.

Work by children has undoubtedly existed throughout human history. However, it first emerged as a public issue in the early stages of the Industrial Revolution as the locus of their work moved outside the family and into the factory. Changes in technology created jobs requiring few skills in a number of industries, most notably textiles, and mill owners often sought to employ poor children in their factories. The owners, of course, benefited from this cheap labor, but many others also welcomed the growing demands for child factory workers. Poor families viewed their children's wages as vital to their welfare. The upper classes feared the potential for social disruptions by numerous idle children and regarded their employment as preparation for productive roles as adults. It was also argued that nations depended for their welfare on a disciplined, skilled, and healthy population.

Early governmental efforts focused on regulating conditions and hours of factory work rather than prohibiting children from working. Steps were often taken as well to provide schooling for young workers. The measures drew support both from those concerned with children's welfare and others intent on improving conditions for adult workers. Over the course of the 19th century, growing resistance to work by children and concerns about the idleness of many others led many Western nations to adopt compulsory school requirements. These laws enabled states to monitor all children's educational, physical, and psychological development while limiting their access to jobs.

If the Industrial Revolution provoked the earliest debates about children's work, globalization has rekindled old conflicts and posed new problems. Growing exports from developing countries have led to concerns about trade deficits and the loss of jobs in many industrialized countries. Government officials and union leaders attribute part of the problem to the lax labor standards in the developing countries and cite the pervasive employment of children. However, concerns regarding the ethics of work by children are evident as well. Many consumers in the developed world wince at graphic reports of children working under hazardous conditions to produce clothes, rugs, furniture, and other products for their use. Activists have demanded governmental action on humanitarian grounds to ban imports of goods made by children and have pressured retailers such as Nike, Wal-Mart, and the Gap to monitor their foreign contractors' labor practices.

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