1938: Child Labor

The outstanding event of the year in the field of child labor in the United States was the enactment of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. This Act not only marks the beginning of a new basis for advanced child-labor standards throughout the country, but will raise the standard of living for underpaid and overworked labor through its minimum-wage and maximum-hour provisions.

Progress was made also in improving state child-labor laws in the nine states where regular legislative sessions were held.

Trends in Employment.

Reports on employment certificates issued for children, which have been collected by the Children's Bureau from state and local officials since 1920, reveal a general correspondence between the trend in employment of children under 16 and the trend in industrial activity, except where state or Federal legislation has established a 16-year minimum for entrance into gainful employment.

In the first six months of 1937, a period of generally increasing employment opportunities, there was an increase of 20 per cent over the first six months of 1936 in the number of first regular employment certificates issued for 14 and 15-year-old children in areas reporting to the Children's Bureau, where the legal minimum-age standard had not been raised to 16 years, whereas, in the last six months of 1937 there was a drop of 16 per cent over the same period in 1936 — a trend corresponding roughly to the downward movement in general business conditions. The total number of first regular employment certificates issued in 1937 for 14 and 15-year-old children in these areas was 1 per cent less than the total in 1936 — 10,081 in 1937 as compared with 10,205 in 1936. Figures for 1938 are not yet available.

State Legislation.

The most significant advances during 1938 in state laws relating to employment of children were the hour laws enacted in South Carolina, Louisiana, and Virginia. These laws, which regulate hours of work either for all employees or for women employees, have the effect of shortening working hours for minors. South Carolina also passed a law prohibiting night employment of minors under 18, between 10 P.M. and 6 A.M. New York extended the application of the 8-hour day, 44-hour week, and 6-day week to minors under 16 employed in beauty parlors. Improvements were also made in the New York street-trades laws and in the compulsory school attendance laws.

Minimum-wage laws were passed by Kentucky and Louisiana. This makes a total of 25 states having minimum-wage legislation. The Kentucky law applies to women and to minors of both sexes and the Louisiana law, to women and girls.

Three states, Louisiana, Massachusetts, and Virginia, adopted laws authorizing apprentice-training systems on a voluntary basis under state supervision.

Child-labor Amendment.

Two cases were brought before the Supreme Court in 1938 to test the validity of ratification of the child-labor amendment by Legislatures of states where it had been rejected previously. These two cases related to the ratification of the amendment in 1937 by Kansas and by Kentucky. Arguments on the cases were heard by the Supreme Court in October 1938.

The amendment, which would empower Congress to enact legislation regulating or prohibiting the labor of persons under 18 years of age, was submitted by Congress to the states in 1924, after two Federal child-labor laws had been declared unconstitutional. By 1938 it had been ratified by 28 states. Thirty-six ratifications are needed before the amendment becomes operative.

Neither the status of the amendment nor the need for it is changed by the enactment of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which applies only to industries producing goods for shipment in interstate commerce.

Child-labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, in addition to setting a floor for wages and a ceiling for hours for all workers in interstate industries, established a national minimum standard for child employment in such industries. The act was approved June 25, 1938, and went into operation on Oct, 24, 1938.

Administration of the Act is vested in the Children's Bureau of the United States Department of Labor, which is responsible for the child-labor provisions, and in the Wage and Hour Division, which was established in the Department of Labor to administer the wage and hour provisions of the act. The Industrial Division of the Children's Bureau, with Beatrice McConnell as director, is being expanded to carry, in addition to its basic function of research, the administrative and research responsibilities that are vested in the Children's Bureau with regard to the employment of minors and the determination of hazardous occupations.

The law excludes children under 16 years of age from employment in all occupations in establishments producing goods for interstate commerce, except the employment of children 14 and 15-years of age at work other than manufacturing or mining, which has been determined by the Chief of the Children's Bureau not to interfere with their schooling, health, or well-being. In addition, it excludes children 16 and 17 years of age from employment in such occupations as may be found and declared by the Chief of the Children's Bureau to be hazardous or detrimental to their health or well-being. Goods produced in establishments in the United States in which children have been employed contrary to these standards, within 30 days prior to the removal of such goods from the establishment, are prohibited from shipment across State lines or to any foreign country. Child actors in motion pictures or theatrical productions, and children employed in agriculture during periods when they are not legally required to attend school, are exempted from these provisions. Definite provision is made for cooperation between the Federal administrative agencies and state and local officials dealing with state labor-law administration.

Child-labor regulations issued by the Chief of the Children's Bureau under the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act are published in the Federal Register as soon as they are issued.

International Child-labor Standards.

The International Labor Office draft convention for maritime employment, fixing at 15 years the minimum age for admission of children to employment on the high seas, was ratified by the United States Senate, June 13, 1938. This applies to all territory over which the United States exercises jurisdiction, except the Philippine Islands and the Panama Canal Zone.

Two conventions adopted at the 1937 session of the International Labor Organization were sent to Congress by the President. These conventions provide for a basic minimum age of 15 years instead of 14 for the employment of children in both industrial and nonindustrial occupations, exclusive of agricultural and maritime work, and for a higher minimum age in occupations that may be determined to be hazardous or unhealthful for young workers. The 15 year standard of the international draft convention, although not so high as the 16-year standard set by the (United States) Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 for productive industries (factories, mines, and so forth) that ship goods in interstate commerce, is higher than the standards now in effect for work in mercantile and other intra-state industries in the large majority of states of the United States.

During 1938, Norway, which had previously enacted legislation raising the minimum age for employment, ratified the convention relating to a 15-year minimum age for employment in industrial occupations: and Switzerland enacted a law raising the minimum age for employment in industry and commerce from 14 to 15 years. No country has yet ratified the convention relating to a 15-year minimum age for employment in nonindustrial occupations.

Great Britain enacted the Young Persons (Employment) Act of 1938, effective Jan. 1, 1939, regulating working hours for young persons under 18 in a range of occupations not previously restricted, and further reducing hours for young persons employed in shops. In France, a decree issued in May 1938 and enforced by factory inspectors, requires children between 14 and 17 employed in industry or commerce to attend vocational courses for not less than 150 hours a year.