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Both happened at the time it became uneconomic to employ children, and productivity was sufficient that people didn't have to work that many hours.

Why do you suppose there was an exemption for farm work? It's because children were needed to bring in the harvest.

Children are lousy workers. What jobs in your workplace do you think they could do? None in any place I've worked.



> None in any place I've worked.

Oh, well, if you don't think that children would be good at making compilers then child labor must not have been a problem. I guess you have a point.


Have a look at what children were doing at work, and then come back.

In once case I know of, the children in a textile factory worked all day at replacing spent spools of thread on the weaving machines. They were replaced by a machine that did the same thing, at much lower cost.

Are there any jobs at your work place that would be productively performed by children? Have you ever gotten your kids to clean their rooms or do their homework?


No, I was making fun of the fact that you haven't seen something and you act like this is compelling evidence of anything.

If you can find a dip in productivity after the laws were passed, you'd have a case.

Then why are there so many signs of increasing child labor in the US? Why are Republicans rolling back protections?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/22/child-labor-...

Note that the article only measures violations of child labor laws, i.e. there are (presumably many times more) children working without violating the laws. Why are people deliberately employing lousy workers? Why are business owners lobbying to allow these lousy workers to work more hours?




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