The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1922-09-09
CHILD LABOR
lessons CHANCES
AVERAGE EARNINGS OF chill.
DREN EMPLOYED ONLY
S16.68 PER MONTH
In Majority of Cases Children's En-
ployment is no Training for
Future Occupations

Both child and community are los
ers by a policy which allows children
under the age of 16 years to be gain
fully employed. according to a report
on "The Working Children of Bos-
tom just issued by the u. S. Depart
ment of Labor through the Children's
Bureau. They have not received an
education of the sort to make them
adaptable to changing industrial con-
ditions or TO give them an under
standing of the duties of citizenship.
They are Subjected also to positive
damage" the conclusions state,
"from irregular habits of work, from
labor unadapted to their needs and
capacities, and from unsuitable asso-
Citations and environments"
Advancement in school work seems
to have exercised a favorable influ-
cnce over even the children's first
earnings in regular positions, and the
advantage of those who had COM
pleted normal or higher than normal
grades for their ages was still more
definite in regard to wage increases,
steadiness of employment, and earn
ings over an extended period of time
The study dealt with conditions
which attended the entrance into
working life of all children in Bos-
ton, Cambridge, Somerville, and
Chelsea, Mass. who passed their
fourteenth birthday in a given year
and who entered employment within
two years thereafter,-a total of 81
600, or approximately one-third of
the children of their age in these
cities. Information concerning sub
sequent working histories was Sc
cured for a number of these chill
dren about three years later, and the
advantage of those who had compet-
ed higher grades in school appeared
at this time to have grown more
pronounced, and suggests, the report
says, that even the small amount of
education which the eighth-grade
graduate could boast over the sixth
grade graduate was real industrial
asset"
The children interviewed who had
the interview took place had been
unemployed 14.4 per cent of the time
since they had started work, and
many of them had spent long periods
cut of school before entering en-
ployment. OF 1913 children inter-
viewed 33 per cent had held new po-
sitions on an average once every
three to six months, and another 8
per cent still more frequently. The
average monthly earnings of the chill
dren who had worked for period
of a year or more preceding the time
of the interview Tin 1870 were only
$16.68, though workers steadily en-
ployed and not subject to "lay-offs",
as were those taken on for depart
ment store sales and for seasonal
work in needle trades, attained a
monthly average not quite SO higher
than this amount The occupations
in which children between Id and
16 years of age can be employed are
restricted by their lack of physical
strength and lack of education, and
to certain extent by law. Most of
the positions held by the children
studied involved simple mechanical
tasks or running errands or carry
ing articles, and in the vast majority
of cases, the report states, were not
of such character as to offer a
future in themselves or training
for any occupation by which the
child could hope to earn a living as
an adult.
The reason most frequently Civ
en- by the children for going to work
was that of economic need, but re-
tardation and lack of adjustment to
school life appeared to be important
factors also. Of 1899 who had en-
tered full-time employment-all of
whom were at least ID and a large
proportion Is years of age,-50.4 per
cent had not completed the eighth
grade before entering industry.
Many of those interviewed gave as
their reason for leaving that they
disliked school or were dissatisfied
with their progress. These facts
show the pressing need, the report
declares, for the study and applica-
ton of methods of training Adde'S
cent boys and girls which shall make
the most of whatever capacity each
may possess.