Child Labor
- This is a preview of the essay.
To view the full text you must login!
When you hear the words "child labor" you might often think back to the early 1900's or during World War 2, but even today we have many children working in sweatshops and harsh living conditions unknown to many in modern day society. After decades of struggle, the United States gradually passed laws against child labor but that is still not enough. According to recent global estimates by the International Labor Office, the number of working children aged 5 to 14 in developing countries is in the order of 250 million, of whom some 120 million work full time in various jobs often under hazardous conditions amid crude living conditions. A surplus of unskilled workers and low wages have combined to create conditions for children similar to the worst features of factories, mines and mills from the 1800s with minimal chances for education and future happiness. These unprivileged children face hardships, struggles, and dangers every day of their lives.
Davis Parker, from the Harvard School of Public Health, has studied child labor in the United States for the past eight years. He has seen and taken many pictures of these poor helpless children and states," Eight years ago I began to study the effect of work on the health of adolescent workers in Minnesota. It was surprising to find an almost complete void of information about the health problems encountered by young workers in the United States. Further, like many people, I thought that child labor had largely disappeared and did not realize that over 150 million children worldwide still work in order to sustain basic needs."
Health concerns are also another major issue of child labor...