Week 3; BLOG #2 Child Labor in the U.S and Internationally

TRIANGLE
There are many places in the world today that still perform child labor. In the video, Working to End Child Labor, it gives clear examples on how five children work in India to help their parents maintain their home. India is one of the countries that have many children that work and become uneducated. Many of these children are paid low wages and for them play is a luxury. Child labor has negative effects on a child because they do not enjoy a normal childhood. There are many negative factors to child labor such as health problems, education and exploitation. Many of the children that are labors can have serious health conditions as they grow older. This is caused by working in factories that have toxins. According to the Journal, The health impact of child labor in developing countries: Evidence from cross-country data, mortality rate among children aged ten to fourteen is an important health indicator, commonly related to accidents. Many of the children are susceptible to malaria and this could have a negative effect in their health. Children that work do not have an opportunity to have an education because they are working for ten to fifteen hours a day to help support their family. In the other hand, in the website Youth Rules, it states that there are limited hours that a child can work based on their age and on the state that they live in. For instance, in Arizona, the minimum age for employment is sixteen and fourteen hours in a school week. Exploitation is a big problem when children are employed, employers do this because they believe that they will make a profit out of the children that they are giving employment to. They take advantage of a child life as well as the parents. This is more likely to occur when the parents are ill and unable to work. Children should have the ability to enjoy their childhood and not work at a very young age because this could be a generational issue.

SQUARE
I agree that child labor is an easy way out for many employers because they pay the children less than what they would an adult for the same job performed. For instance, in the video, Working to End Child Labor, the little girl that worked in architecture was forced to work by her father, and if she did not work the employer would go and yell at her father for not appearing for work. The child’s parents should take the initiative and protect their child of their type of predators that only want to take advantage of their child’s labor. If the parent forces their child to work it is impossible to end this type of injustice.

CIRCLE
I was unaware that in some states a fourteen year old teenager could work, I believe that the minimum age was sixteen, but this is not true for some states. I believe that the United States has come a long way avoiding child labor, even though it did occur in the past. There has been many ways in which we have come forward with positive laws that give advantage to a child and basically force them to have an education until they reach a certain age. Why do some countries still face child labor? Can child labor be avoided?