Did children work in factories in the 1900s?
In the early 1900s, children frequently worked in factories. Some children as young as 5 or 6 worked. Many children worked long shifts, sometimes up to 12 hours. They worked under horrible conditions: dangerous fumes, poisonous gases and chemicals, and deadly mechanized equipment.
Why did children work in factories in 1900?
The Industrial Revolution saw the rise of factories in need of workers. Children were ideal employees because they could be paid less, were often of smaller stature so could attend to more minute tasks and were less likely to organize and strike against their pitiable working conditions.
How many children worked in factories in 1900?
1.75 million children
The 1900 U.S. census (a count of the nation’s population and related statistics taken every ten years) showed that 1.75 million children (about 18.2 percent) aged ten to fifteen years old were working. Not included in the census were children younger than ten who held jobs in mills, in factories, and on the streets.
What did child workers do in factories?
They were working long hours, for little pay, in unsafe working conditions, not permitting them to be children and getting an education. Children worked in large numbers in mines, glass factories, the textile industry, agriculture, canneries, and as newsboys, messengers, shoe shiners, and peddlers.
Where did children work in the 1900?
By 1900, states varied considerably in whether they had child labor standards and in their content and degree of enforcement. By then, American children worked in large numbers in mines, glass factories, textiles, agriculture, canneries, home industries, and as newsboys, messengers, bootblacks, and peddlers.
Why was child Labour important in the industrial revolution?
Finally, children were hired during the Industrial Revolution because they naturally smaller and could fit into tighter spaces. This was especially important in the new mechanized factories of the late 18th century. Therefore, factory owners employed children because it helped in the production of goods.
How much did factory workers make in 1900?
In 1900, the average factory wage was approximately twenty cents per hour, for an annual salary of barely six hundred dollars.
What were wages like in the 1900s?
The average American worker earned approximately $12.98 per week for 59 hours of work in 1900—$674.96 a year. Most workers did not earn that much money. There were no paid vacations, holidays or sick leave. A laborer worked and got paid, or did not work and did not get paid.