Child Labor
The labor needed for factory work was generally not skilled. Employers therefore wanted to hire the cheapest labor possible. Children were employed as laborers in England and worked under horrible conditions.
Young boy working in factory
In the United States, businessmen were concerned about the bottom line and began to hire more women and children because they could be paid a lower wage than an adult male. By 1900, over five million women were wage earners and almost two million children worked in factories and fields. Many of the children were sent to work by their families. Their employer fed them, clothed them, and disciplined them. It wasn’t long before the use of child labor would be compared to slavery and though government labor rules were enacted, most private industries ignored the laws.