In the USA, child labour was widespread in the early nineteenth century: in the 1820s, about half of cotton textile workers were under 16. At the time, it was very common for families to be hired as a complete unit. For example, in 1813 a cotton manufacturer advertised in a New York state provincial paper, the
In Britain, the first attempts to introduce institutions to regulate child labour met with stiff resistance. In the debate surrounding the 1819 Cotton Factories Regulation Act, which banned the employment of children under the age of nine and restricted children’s working hours, some members of the House of Lords argued that ‘labour ought to be free’ while others argued that children are not ‘free agents’. The earlier laws (1802, 1819, 1825 and 1831) remained largely ineffective, partly because Parliament would not vote to commit the money needed for its implementation. For example, the 1819 Act had secured only two convictions by 1825.[130]
The first serious attempt to regulate child labour in Britain was the 1833 Factory Act, but this only covered the cotton, wool, flax and silk industries.[131] This act banned the employment of children under nine; it also limited the working day of children between nine and 13 to eight hours and that for ‘young persons’ (those between 13 and 18) to 12 hours. Children were not allowed to work during the night (between 8.30 pm and 5.30 am). In 1844, another Factory Act reduced the working hours of children under 13 to six and a half (or seven under special circumstances), and made provisions for compulsory mealtimes. However, this was partly countered by a lowering of the minimum working age from nine to eight. The 1847 Factory Act (the ‘Ten Hours Act’) reduced the working day of children aged between 13 and 18 to 10 hours.
From 1853 onward, a series of other industries were brought under the acts, which all functioned simultaneously, with the 1867 Act the most significant in this respect. The working hours of children employed in the mines were, however, not brought under the Factory Act until 1872. However, even in the 1878 Factory and Workshop Act, children over the age of 10 were allowed to work up to 30 hours a week, while conditions were even less stringent in non-textile factories.[132]
In Germany, Prussia introduced the first law on child labour in 1839. This law forbade the ‘regular’ employment of children under nine and of illiterate children under 16 in factories and mines. In 1853-4, when factory inspection was instituted and the legal minimum age was raised to 12, the law became enforced to some extent. However, it was only in 1878, when the law strengthened inspection, that child labour under 12 finally became illegal. In Saxony, child labour under 10 was outlawed in 1861, and four years later the minimum working age for children was raised to 12. France introduced child labour regulation in 1841, and the following year Austria raised the working age at factories from nine (a level which had been set in 1787) to 12.[133]
A law was passed in Sweden in 1846 to ban labour by children under 12, while a law of 1881 restricted the working day for children to six hours. However, these laws were widely violated until 1900, when a special supervisory agency was established to enforce them; in the same year the maximum number of working hours for children aged between 13 and 18 were reduced to 10.[134]
In Denmark, the first regulation on child labour was introduced in 1873. This banned the employment of children under 10 in industry, with the maximum working hours of the 10-14 and 14-18 age groups set at six and a half and 12 respectively. In 1925, it was ruled that children under the age of 14 who had not legally finished their schooling could not be employed; however, this law exempted work in agriculture, forestry, fishing and sailing. The passing of this law was relatively easy, as the Danish parliament was at the time dominated by agricultural interest, who had no objections so long as the legislation didn’t affect the agricultural sector.[135]
In Norway, the first legislation to regulate child labour was introduced in 1892.[136] This law forbade the employment of children below the age of 12 in industrial establishments, while work by children between 12 and 14 was heavily regulated, and the working day for those between 14 and 18 was restricted to 10 hours. Night shifts by those under 18 were banned, except in factories operating round the clock.
In 1873, the Spanish government passed a law banning the employment of children under 10, but it was ineffective. A new law, introduced in 1900, limited the working day of children between 10 and 14 to six hours in industrial establishments and to eight hours in commercial business. The first child labour regulations were introduced in 1874 in Holland and 1877 in Switzerland.[137]
In Belgium, the first attempt to regulate child labour was the 1878 law related to children employed in the mines. In 1909, children over the age of 12 were restricted to working 12 hours a day and six days a week. Employment of children below 12 was banned. In 1914, the minimum age for child labour was raised to 14. In Italy, a law prohibiting the employment of children under 12 was not introduced until 1902, while in Portugal, regulations on the working hours of children (and women) were only introduced in 1913. [138]
In the USA, some states introduced regulation on child labour as early as the 1840s – Massachusetts in 1842, New Hampshire in 1846 and Maine and Pennsylvania in 1848.[139] By the First World War, nearly every state had introduced laws banning the employment of young children and limiting the hours of older ones. In this transition, the initiative taken by the National Child Labour Committee is said to have been crucial. Unfortunately, the laws were still poorly enforced. The Congress passed a federal child labour law in 1916, but two years later the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional. Another attempt in 1919 met with the same fate. A federal legislation banning child labour had to wait until 1938 and the introduction of the Fair Labour Standard Act.[140]
Table 3.5 provides a summary of the information presented above regarding the evolution of child labour regulation in the NDCs during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. While the information contained in the table is incomplete and the dating of events approximate, it seems clear that not until the mid-1870s did even cosmetic legislation on child labour exist in the majority of the 15 countries listed. Only in the early twentieth century have we come to see even ‘reasonably serious’ child labour regulation prevailing in the NDCs.
| Table 3.5 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Introduction of child labour regulation in the NDCs | |||
| First Attempt at Regulation (mostly ineffective) | First ‘Serious’ Regulation | Relatively Comprehensive and Well-enforced Regulation | |
| Austria | 1787 | I842? | ? |
| UK | 1802 | 1833 | 1878 |
| Prussia | 1839 | 1853-4 | 1878 |
| France | 1841 | ? | ? |
| USA | 1842* | 1904-14 | 1938 |
| Sweden | 1846 | 1881 | 1900 |
| Saxony | 1861 | ? | ? |
| Denmark | 1873 | 1925 | ? |
| Spain | 1873 | 1900 | ? |
| Holland | 1874 | ? | ? |
| Switzerland | 1877 | ? | ? |
