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Child Labour
Introduction
Child labour refers to the employment of children in any work that deprives them
of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and that is
mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful. In villages, it is a
common sight to see children of poor families working in fields or elsewhere to
contribute to the family income. Such children are deprived of opportunities of
education and are also prone to health risks.

In a sense, child labour is open exploitation as it deprives children of education

and pushes them into exploitative situations. The side-effects of working at a
young age are: risks of contracting occupational diseases like skin diseases,
diseases of the lungs, weak eyesight, TB etc.; vulnerability to sexual exploitation
at the workplace; deprived of education. They grow up unable to avail
development opportunities and end up as unskilled workers for the rest of their
lives.

It has been observed that in villages especially, representatives of various

industries lure children with promises of jobs and wealth and bring them to the
city where they are employed as bonded labour in factories. Many children are
also employed as household help where they are paid minimum wages and are
made to do maximum physical work.

Today, as we commemorate World Day Against Child Labour, we are calling on

policymakers, consumers, corporate leaders and individuals everywhere to
redouble their commitment to the fight to end child labour. The global community
has made great progress over the past twenty years, but recently that progress
has slowed. In 2016 the International Labour Organization (ILO) reported there
were still 152 million child laborers – which is exactly 152 million too many. Those
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are children who are losing out on their childhood, their education, and their
future.

Twenty years ago, ILRF was deep in the thick of the Global March Against Child
Labour. Our founding director, Pharis Harvey, joined the march in India and the
over seven million people expressing solidarity for the Global March across five
continents. Bama Athreya, my predecessor at ILRF, helped engineer the
complicated logistics that come with such an endeavour. Bama, now a Labour
and Employment Rights Specialist at USAID, recently posted a blog analysing how
far we’ve come in the past twenty years.

The Global March, led by 2014 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former ILRF board
member, Kailash Satyarthi, did much more than raise awareness and mobilize
activists. It helped drive significant policy change and the adoption of ILO
Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour. The March also set a positive
example by making sure children, many recently freed from bonded child labour,
were in the lead, demonstrating actively their interest and ability to organize for
change. I met one of those former child laborers, Basu Rai, at the ILO annual
meetings last week. Basu, pictured above as a child with Satyarthi, is now a full-
time activist and he recalls having been freed from child labour in Nepal and
participating in the Global March’s arrival at the ILO in Geneva in 1998. Basu
recounts standing on desks at the ILO and chanting “No more tools for tiny hands.
We want books. We want toys.” Basu is giving back to Nepali society as an
organizer and changemaker, his commitment to ending child labour unwavering.

In 2012, the ILO reported a 22% decrease in child labour over the previous four
years. But from 2012 through 2016, the percent decrease was less than 10%.
What’s worse, the decline in hazardous child labour – the most dangerous and
debilitating form of child labour – has slowed even more, decreasing by 26%
between 2008 and 2012 and by only 15% between 2012 and 2016.

The fight to end child labour is a global goal that needs to be addressed country
by country and industry by industry. Nearly every global supply chain is affected,
which means everyone has a role to play in ending child labour. The ILRF-housed
Cotton Campaign was instrumental in ending nationwide state-sponsored child
labour in Uzbekistan’s cotton sector, but continued activism is needed to
transform the industry into one with decent pay and working conditions. In
Liberia’s rubber sector, local trade unions won collective bargaining rights,
thanks to transnational support and pressure on Firestone. They then went on to
negotiate better wages and working conditions, which significantly reduced child
labour in the sector.

Additionally, ILRF’s long time campaign to end child labour in West Africa’s cocoa
sector is finally gaining traction and we have recently seen a significant shift in
the chocolate industry. For 18 years, ILRF campaigned for chocolate companies
to help stop child labour by ensuring farmers’ access to a liveable income, but the
industry responded with an emphasis on improving farmers’ yields, with no
tracking of their impact on net income and family livelihoods. In late 2016,
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however, the World Cocoa Foundation President, Rick Scobey, started

acknowledging the need to address farmer incomes and cooperate more closely
with NGOs.

Yet there are still many chocolate companies not fully onboard with a holistic
approach to addressing both child labour and cocoa farmers’ poverty. Ironically,
one of the most high end chocolate companies – Godiva – is lagging furthest
behind in their commitments and urgently needs an added push to improve. Green
America is hosting a petition to Godiva, supported by ILRF, which asks Godiva to
ensure the farmers in their supply chain are lifted out of poverty and to establish
effective child labour monitoring and remediation programs.

Signing the Green America petition is one small way readers can support the
United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal of ending child labour by 2025. It
would be a major victory if one of the most popular luxury chocolate brands in the
world committed to lifting cocoa farmers out of poverty and ending child labour.
As Kailash Satyarthi said during his recent speech at the ILO, “These are human
beings. These are all our children.”

Listening to children is vital to achieving success in the fight against child labour.

A key message in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is that children
have a right to voice their views on matters affecting them and to have these
taken into account. Children have the power to play a significant role in
preventing and responding to child labour. They are key actors in child protection
and can give valuable insights into how they perceive their involvement and what
they expect from the government and other stakeholders.
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SURVEY REPORTS BY NGO’S

According to data from Census 2011, the number of child labourers in India is 10.1
million of which 5.6 million are boys and 4.5 million are girls. A total of 152 million
children – 64 million girls and 88 million boys – are estimated to be in child labour
globally, accounting for almost one in ten of all children worldwide.

Despite rates of child labour declining over the last few years, children are still
being used in some severe forms of child labour such as bonded labour, child
soldiers, and trafficking. Across India child labourers can be found in a variety of
industries: in brick kilns, carpet weaving, garment making, domestic service, food
and refreshment services (such as tea stalls), agriculture, fisheries and mining.
Children are also at risk of various other forms of exploitation including sexual
exploitation and production of child pornography, including online.

Child labour and exploitation are the result of many factors, including poverty,
social norms condoning them, lack of decent work opportunities for adults and
adolescents, migration and emergencies. These factors are not only the cause
but also a consequence of social inequities reinforced by discrimination.

Children belong in schools not workplaces. Child labour deprives children of their
right to go to school and reinforces intergenerational cycles of poverty. Child
labour acts as a major barrier to education, affecting both attendance and
performance in school.

The continuing persistence of child labour and exploitation poses a threat to

national economies and has severe negative short and long-term consequences
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for children such as denial of education and undermining physical and mental
health.

Child trafficking is also linked to child labour and it always results in child abuse.
Trafficked children face all forms of abuse-physical, mental, sexual and
emotional. Trafficked children are subjected to prostitution, forced into marriage
or illegally adopted; they provide cheap or unpaid labour, are forced to work as
house servants or beggars and may be recruited into armed groups. Trafficking
exposes children to violence, sexual abuse and HIV infection.

Child labour and other forms of exploitation are preventable through integrated
approaches that strengthen child protection systems as well as simultaneously
addressing poverty and inequity, improve access to and quality of education and
mobilize public support for respecting children’s rights.

Teachers and others in the education system can be frontline supporters to

protect children and can alert other stakeholders such as social workers to
situations where children display signs of distress or indicate they work long
hours. Getting children out of work and into school also requires broader changes
in public policy to empower families to choose education over exploitative labour.

UNICEF works with government and for-profit agencies to put in place the
necessary policy framework to end child labour. It works with businesses to
assess the supply chains and to find sustainable options to address business
practices that lead to child labour. It works with families to support the ending of
labour that is a result of bonded or debt labour. UNICEF supports state
governments to integrate programmes that would end child labour. We also
support communities in changing their cultural acceptance of child labour, while
ensuring alternative income to families, access to preschools, quality education
and protection services.
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law of child labour

According to Article 23 of the Indian Constitution, any type of forced labour is

prohibited. Article 24 states that a child under 14 years cannot be employed to
perform any hazardous work. Similarly, Article 39 states that “the health and
strength of workers, men, and women, and the tender age of children are not
abused”. In the same manner, Child Labour Act (Prohibition and Regulation) 1986
prohibits children under the age of 14 years to be working in hazardous industries
and processes.

Merits and demerits of Child Labour Amendment Act, 2016

The child is the future of a country and their holistic development must be the
sole aim of a country and this requirement becomes more important for a
developing country like India. The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation)
Amendment Act, 2016 received the assent of the President on 29th July 2016 and
came into force in order to amend Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act,
1986 which became “the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and
Regulation) Act, 1986”. Amendments are made in Section 1 to 14 and Section 18
of the old Act and new sections like Section 3-A, 14-A, 14-B, 14-D, 17 A and 17 B
are inserted in the said Act. The merits and demerits of the amendments of the
Act are mentioned below in brief.

Merits of child labour

The amended act has introduced a new category -adolescents - children aged
between 14-18 years. They could be employed in any occupation except some
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hazardous occupation. Children of age below 14 years cannot be employed in any

occupation except where the family business is involved. The rationale behind
this provision is the socio-economic reality in India. A child can be employed in
familial business and artistic fields (i.e. movies, drama etc) beyond school hours
and during vacation. Whereas, we are aware an adolescent can be employed in
non-hazardous industries. The family business may include the business of not
only parents of the child but also other relatives and it ensures the protection of
traditional occupational activities, family enterprises etc. Now a child can help
their kith and kins in household business in free time. (Non-hazardous) The
amendment reduced the exploitation of children and adolescents by clearly
classifying where they can be employed. Absolute prohibition of children below 14
years in all occupations and no engagement of children below 18 years in
hazardous occupations whose violation would attract 2 years of imprisonment
and a fine up to Rs 50,000. To boost the lives of children & adolescent labour a
Child and Adolescent Labour Rehabilitation Fund has been established. The
amendment act made employment of child and adolescent labour a cognizable
offence attracting a jail term of up to two years and a penalty of up to fifty
thousand rupees.- earlier the penalty was from 3 months to 1 year which will act
as a deterrent and provide relief respectively.

It enforces stricter penalties for violating provisions of employment and it

empowers the Central govt to make periodic inspections of places at which
employment of children and adolescents are prohibited. The appropriate
Government may confer such powers and impose such duties on a District
Magistrate as may be necessary, to ensure that the provisions of this Act are
properly carried out and the District Magistrate may specify the officer,
subordinate to him, who shall exercise all or any of the powers, and perform all or
any of the duties, so conferred or imposed and the local limits

Demerits of child labour

The definition of parents has been broadened which is a cause for concern. It is in
contravention to Juvenile Justice Act 2000 that makes it punishable for anyone to
procure or employ a child in hazardous occupations, it also contradicts the
International Labour Organisation (ILO) minimum age convention and UNICEF
convention on the rights of the child, to which India is a signatory. This would
trap millions of poor low caste children in child labour forever. Section 3-clause-5
allows child labour in family enterprises but it does not define hours of work with
family. In the process of familial business, the child might be confined only to
traditional work and might not focus on education. In the name of the familial
business, the child can be forced to work than his capacity. In urban areas, it has
been observed in many instances where the child is brought from the rural areas
in name of the familial business and is exploited mentally and physically.
Permitting children to work after school imposes an additional burden on the child
physically and mentally. This is in contrast with art 21 of the Constitution
(Fundamental right -Right to good health). Involvement in such hazardous
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activities at such tender age shall no doubt have an adverse effect on the health
and morale of the children. The Provision of compounding of the offence
committed for the first time under sub-section (3) of section 14 or any offence
committed by an accused person being a parent or a guardian on payment of such
amount will encourage a violation.

The list of hazardous occupations for children is reduced from 83 to 3 includes

just Mining, Explosives and Hazardous process as defined in clause (CB) of the
Factories Act, 1948. This means that working in chemical mixing units, cotton
farms, battery cycling units, among others have been dropped. Further, the
changes in this hazardous industries list are previously done by the legislative
body with Parliament approval now it will be done by the executive body where
there is a scope of misuse. In effect, it is proposed to allow children to be
employed in all kinds of unsafe processes, under the garb of family enterprise.

Awareness to stop child labour

1. Spread awareness

Parental awareness of the evils of child labour can prevent disruption in

schooling and the pushing of children into labour. Lack of understanding on
the part of parents creates situations where traffickers prey upon children and
many trafficked children end up in child labour. Aware communities can
comprehend and respond to children’s issues much more effectively.
Awareness also ensures that communities tap growth, education,
employment, and enterprise opportunities and create a socially and
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economically developed society in which children suffer much less. NGOs use
community events, sports, arts, and theatre to educate communities about the
importance of child rights. NGOs also create income resources, educational
resources, and access to information services – all with an aim to help
children and their communities march ahead.

2. More stringent laws and effective implementation

Policymaking is essential to long-lasting social change, and lobbying for better

laws involves demonstrating how change can bring considerable benefit.
NGOs research, and showcase findings regarding exploited children, and use
case studies to establish how their work benefits children. Driving policy-level
change requires relationships with several stakeholders – media, lawmakers,
citizens, fellow civil society members, etc. Many cases have been filed under
the recent Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Act (2012) and
Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, which have successfully translated into
increased convictions, demonstrating how legislating can curb child
trafficking. NGOs also maintain coordination with district and state-level
authorities for a vigilant eye on the implementation of pro-child laws.

3. Sending more children to school

India has the world’s largest educational system, yet faces the hurdles of low
literacy, due to low enrolment. Organizations like Save the Children execute
several initiatives to boost children’s enrolment in schools. The organization
maps out-of-school children and those who are at risk of dropping out and
ensures that they enter into the fold of education.

Save the Children’s child education achievements includes the following:

• Creating ‘Inclusive Learner Friendly Environments’ (ages 3-18 years)

across settings as diverse as slums and villages
• Create a dialogue with children and families to send children to school,
provide admissions assistance
• Create fun, meaningful experiences in school, with child-friendly and
interactive teaching-learning methods
• Generate funding for, and establish libraries and infrastructure like
computers, sports equipment, and Mobile Learning Centres
• Successfully bringing back out-of-school children (dropouts and both
never-been-to-school children), street children, and child laborers to
school
4. Discouraging people to employ children in homes, shops,
factories, etc

Child labour gets a resounding approval when Indian businesses openly use it,
in industries like retail, hospitality, and menial work. NGOs today sensitize
trade organizations to end this social evil and educate locals about reporting
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instances of child labour at businesses and homes. Save the Children has to
its credit getting India’s biggest IT market declared child-labour-free.

5. Supporting NGOs like Save the Children

Save the Children offers immediate aid to victims of child labour, while also
working for long-term societal change through policy change. The NGO works
to ensure that existing policies are followed through with action. It has
rescued 9337 children from child labour, in pan-India ongoing relief and rescue
missions. Present in 120 countries, Save the Children focuses on education
and the new life of millions of children affected by armed conflict and
exploitation. The NGO works with state and national level authorities,
including Police departments of states to prevent child exploitation incidence
in states such as Punjab, Delhi, Bihar, J&K, Jharkhand, West Bengal, and
Assam where the vulnerability of children is high.

6. Conclusion

Initiatives from civil society have given lakhs of children the means of living
dignified life where they can cherish their childhood. Save the Children have
forged powerful relationships with government, national and international
bodies to make child rights a “movement”. Fighting child labour requires a
multi-pronged push, and there is a need to make this a people’s issue. While
officials and government can only institute policies, ignoring everyday child
abuse and malnourishment must also be attacked at an individual level,
wherever possible – so

Role of panchayat members in mitigating child labour

• Generate awareness about the ill-effects of child labour,
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• Encourage parents to send their children to school

• Create an environment where children stop working and get enrolled in
schools instead
• Ensure that children have sufficient facilities available in schools
• Inform industry owners about the laws prohibiting child labour and the
penalties for violating these laws
• Activate Balwadis and Aanganwadis in the village so that working mothers
do not leave the responsibility of younger children on their older siblings
• Motivate Village Education Committees (VECs) to improve the conditions of
schools.

Role of Panchayat members in child protection

Child protection issues

As elected representatives of your gram panchayat, you are responsible for

ensuring the development and protecting the rights of villagers. Your task is to
contribute to socio-economic growth and more importantly, to protect the
unprotected majority of the population within the village.

Children from a majority of the most unprotected and weakest sections of the
village population. As elected representatives, it is your responsibility to ensure
the protection of their rights. Although children are not voters today, they will
grow up to be responsible citizens and as adults, we are accountable for their
upbringing.

It can be seen that often children become targets for abuse, exploitation, and
violence. While on one hand, this can be largely attributed to the malpractices
prevalent in our society; on the other hand, there is general ignorance about child
rights in our society. In spite of several efforts by the government and non-
governmental organizations to support child rights, we still see many children
working as laborers, being deprived of education, and facing violence and abuse
in their families, schools, and within society. Furthermore, they are also targets of
religious and caste discrimination. Girls particularly are more vulnerable to this
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kind of discrimination. Many communities kill the girl child after birth; being a girl
child makes them more vulnerable to discrimination in society and families,
leading to a life bereft of education and development.

Child marriage is another traditional practice that is responsible for stunting the
development of children. They are deprived of educational opportunities and are
instead burdened with household responsibilities early in life.

Keeping all these facts in mind and as elected representatives of the gram
panchayat, it is important that you understand the current plight of children, their
rights, and how by protecting these rights, you can ensure a safe environment for
them.

Importance of child protection

Although the definition of a child varies according to different sources, according

to international and Indian law, a child is a human being below the age of 18
years who is in need of care and protection and is entitled to receive it from the
state. This means that every individual in the village who is less than 18 years
should be considered a child and be provided necessary support and protection.

Why do children require protection and why do they need special attention? There
are various reasons for this:

• Children are the future of our country. If we protect their health, they as
healthy citizens will help contribute to the development of the country.
• As compared to adults, children are more vulnerable to living conditions.
• Children are more affected than any other age group by the actions and
inactions of governments and society.
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• In our society, children are considered to be the property of their parents,

have no rights, and are not ready to contribute to society.
• Children do not have the right to vote and often they cannot voice their
opinions to others.
• Children are particularly vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

It is necessary to support and protect a child for the above reasons and
panchayat members can play an important role in doing so.

Child Rights

The constitution of India guarantees all children certain rights which have been
specially included for them. These include:

• Right to free and compulsory elementary education for all children in the 6-
14 year age group – the constitution of India guarantees free education to
children in the 6-14 age group
• Right to be protected from any hazardous employment till the age of 14
years – children under the age of 14 years will not be employed to
undertake any hazardous job
• Right to be protected from being abused and forced by economic necessity
to enter occupations unsuited to their age or strength – children will not be
employed in jobs that are not suitable to their age or strength
• Right to equal opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner –
all children will be given equal opportunities to develop in a healthy manner
• Right to equality – like adults, children will have a right to equality,
irrespective of caste, gender, and social background
• Right against discrimination – children will not be discriminated against
based on caste, gender, religion, or otherwise
• Right to protection from being trafficked and forced into bonded labour –
every child has the right to be protected from being trafficked and pushed
into bonded labour
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• Right to health and nutrition – every child, irrespective of gender, class, or

caste has the right to access health facilities so that he/she can grow up to
be a healthy citizen. It is important to provide health facilities and save
children from malnutrition; it is their right.

Besides these constitutional rights, there are several laws specially designed for
the protection and rights of children. As responsible members of the panchayat, it
is important that you are aware of them and their significance. In doing so, you
will be able to contribute to the protection of child rights in your village.

Government schemes for child protection

• Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS)

• Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS)
• Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
• Scheme for Adolescent Girls
• Mid-Day Meal Scheme
• Kishori Shakti Yojana
• Reproductive And Child Health (RCH) Programme
• National Child Labour Project
• Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao

Child Labour policies

Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2017

The government of India has notified the amendment in the Child Labour
(Prohibition and Regulation) Central Rules after extensive consultation with the
stakeholders. The Rules provide a broad and specific framework for the
prevention, prohibition, rescue and rehabilitation of child and adolescent workers.
It also clarifies issues related to helping in family and family enterprises and the
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definition of family with respect to child, specific provisions have been

incorporated in rules. Further, it also provides for safeguards of artists who have
been permitted to work under the Act, in terms of hours of work and working
conditions. The rules provide for specific provisions incorporating duties and
responsibilities of enforcement agencies in order to ensure effective
implementation and compliance of the provisions of the Act.

Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016

The government has enacted the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation)
Amendment Act, 2016 which came into force w.e.f. 1.9.2016. The Amendment Act
completely prohibits the employment of children below 14 years. The amendment
also prohibits the employment of adolescents in the age group of 14 to 18 years in
hazardous occupations and processes and regulates their working conditions
where they are not prohibited. The amendment also provides stricter punishment
for employers for violation of the Act and makes the offence of employing any
child or adolescent in contravention of the Act by an employer cognizable.

In order to achieve effective enforcement of the provisions of the Act, the

amendment empowers the appropriate Government to confer such powers and
impose such duties on a District Magistrate as may be necessary. Further, the
State Action Plan has been circulated to all the States/UTs for ensuring effective
implementation of the Act.

Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986

Article 24 of the Indian constitution clearly states that "No child below the age of
fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or employed in
any hazardous employment." The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of
1986 designates a child as a person who has not completed their 14th year of
age. It aims to regulate the hours and the working conditions of child workers and
to prohibit child workers from being employed in hazardous industries.

Legislative Provisions Prohibiting and Regulating

Employment of Children
• As per the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 “child” means
a person who has not completed his 14th year of age.
• The Act prohibits the employment of children in 13 occupations and 57
processes contained in Part A & B of the Schedule to the Act (Section 3).
• Under the Act, a Technical Advisory Committee is constituted to advise for
inclusion of further occupations & processes in the Schedule.
• The Act regulates the condition of employments in all occupations and
processes not prohibited under the Act (Part III).
• Any person who employs any child in contravention of the provisions of
section 3 of the Act is liable for punishment with imprisonment for a term
which shall not be less than three months but which may extend to one
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year or with fine which shall not be less than Rs 10,000 but which may
extend to Rs 20,000 or both. ((Section 14).
• The Central and State Governments enforce the provisions of the Act in
their respective spheres.

National Policy on Child Labour

Policy

The National Policy on Child Labour, August 1987 contains the action plan for
tackling the problem of child labour. It envisages:

• A legislative action plan

• Focusing and convergence of general development programmes for
benefiting children wherever possible, and
• Project-based action plan of action for the launching of projects for the
welfare of working children in areas of high concentration of child labour.

In pursuance of the National Child Labour Policy, the NCLP Scheme was started in
1988 to rehabilitate child labour. The Scheme seeks to adopt a sequential
approach with a focus on rehabilitation of children working in hazardous
occupations & processes in the first instance. Under the Scheme, after a survey
of child labour engaged in hazardous occupations & processes has been
conducted, children are to be withdrawn from these occupations & processes and
then put into special schools in order to enable them to be mainstreamed into the
formal schooling system.
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Legislative Action Plan for strict enforcement of Child Labour Act and other
labour laws to ensure that children are not employed in hazardous employments
and that the working conditions of children working in non-hazardous areas are
regulated in accordance with the provisions of the Child Labour Act. It also
entails further identification of additional occupations and processes, which are
detrimental to the health and safety of the children.

The government has accordingly been taking proactive steps to tackle this
problem through strict enforcement of legislative provisions along with
simultaneous rehabilitative measures. State Governments, which are the
appropriate implementing authorities, have been conducting regular inspections
and raids to detect cases of violations. Since poverty is the root cause of this
problem, and enforcement alone cannot help solve it, Government has been laying
a lot of emphasis on the rehabilitation of these children and on improving the
economic conditions of their families.

Right to Education Bill

In 2009, the government of India made a move of far-reaching consequences by

introducing the Right to Education Bill. The implementation of this Act at the
grassroots level is a key to the eradication of the problem of child labour that has
plagued India for centuries.

Rehabilitation of Children Working in Hazardous Occupations

The government of India launched a major program to remove child labour from
working in hazardous occupations and to rehabilitate them by setting up special
schools for them. Under the program, a total of two million children are sought to
be brought out of work and put in special schools where they are provided with
education, vocational training, monthly stipends, nutrition and health checks.

CONCLUSION

Despite the severe limitations of the surviving evidence of child labour, some
general conclusions may be drawn. First, the employment of very young children
was never widespread in British society. Child labour below the age of 10
invariably formed part of the survival strategies of the poor. The demographic
structure of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain led to an increased burden
of dependency among poor families and early employment might be explained as
a rational response by households to structural dependency and endemic poverty.
Child labour at abnormally young ages was associated especially with lone-parent
households, orphans, and children formally in the care of parish authorities. Such
children were often victims of a failure of local welfare arrangements to provide
adequate care to the destitute.