Child Labor During The Industrial Revolution

The Effects of Child Labor in the Industrial Revolution Introduction The Industrial Revolution was a very important period in our history. It had many key affecting factors, and without them, the economy would never have been able to evolve. Child labor during the Industrial Revolution was an essential part in driving economic growth and technological advancement, as young workers could work long hours with little pay, in exchange for their childhood and lack of education. Without these child laborers, the Industrial Revolution would have either taken significantly longer if done by adults, or might not have been a success at all. The Industrial Revolution was a period that began in 1760 and continued through 1840. It was a period where economies shifted from primarily handmade goods and personally done tasks to machine manufacturing. The economy was dominated by industry from then on, but this didn't just come out of the blue, there were a lot of

The poverty cycle is what causes the need for child labor. This is because “the more child workers in the economy, the lower the wages of jobs that children engage in (unskilled work). This creates a cycle of poverty: child labor leads to low wages, which leads to the need for more income in poor households, which leads to the need for child labor” (Edmonds 3). This creates a cycle where children are forced to work so that they can support their families, but their labor also keeps wages low and circles back to end up keeping them in poverty. This shows why child labor during this time was essential, because it was a means of survival for many families who were held in poverty. But in turn, this also ended up creating a system where they could never get out of their hardship, forever a part of the circle. Children had to work; without them, the economic cycle would crash, along with their current economic