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Wartime Employment O f Boys and Girls Under 18 Publication 289 United States Department of Labor Children’s Bureau 1943 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Wartime Employment of Boys and Girls Under 18 A NATIONAL VIEW The employment of children and young people under 18 years of age is increasing at a tremendous rate. The demands that these young people leave school to work on farms, in stores, in service in dustries, and in factories are growing daily. High wages offered are exerting a strong pull in this same direction. Thousands have left school for work and other thousands are working in addition to attending school, many in unsuitable employment and for long hours. Fewer children are enrolling in high school, and many who enroll drop out in the middle of their courses to go to work. Others have left for employment even before completing the elementary grades. At the same time that our children and youth are cutting short their education for employment, the Selective Service System is reporting that scores of thousands of the young men of this country have been found to be unequipped to enter the armed forces because of elementary educational deficiencies—a serious loss to the country s military strength when it is most needed. Wholesale increases in employment of young persons under 18 mean curtailment of schooling at the very time when more adequate and universal education of youth should be recognized as a war measure and given its due priority. Modem wars are won in indus trial workshops and scientific laboratories. The country needs edu cated youth to do its war planning and skilled technicians to carry on both war and civilian production. The direct causes of the increasing movement from school to work, ' 1 boys are drafted opportunities opened Bkawing off of emH nd civilian indus[Hice. But another >r is that the schools are an ___^__ o I_______ __ _^ lers. It is often much more difficult to recruit workers from minority groups, women, and older persons not normally in the labor market, than it is to call 516847— 43 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 2 upon school children— a group that can be found all together in one place, a group naturally eager for new experiences and for what seems an exciting part in the war effort, a group inexperienced in employment relationships and often willing to accept any wages offered. Since Pearl Harbor this “easy way” has been taken only too often, in spite o f its dangerous implications. There has been no Nation-wide, balanced program to avoid waste o f this irreplaceable source o f future manpower. The President in his radio speech o f October 12, 1942, recognized “ grown” boys and girls as one o f the sources of manpower but also cautioned that they should be used where “ reasonable.” In connec tion with the President’s suggestion that plans be worked out to enable high-school students “ to take some time from their school year and to use their summer vacations to help farmers raise and harvest their crops, or to work in the war industries,” he referred to “ older students” and said, “ This does not mean closing schools and stopping education.” But up to the present time the use o f school children in employment in this country has often failed to follow these suggestions. In many cases schools have been closed for weeks at a time and education dis rupted; many younger children have been employed when older youth could have been made available. Much o f this employment has not been “reasonable” from the point o f view o f the best interests of youth or o f the Nation or from the long-range point o f view o f winning both the war and the peace. To reach the President’s objective, a clear view must be taken o f the varied contributions that these young people should make to the Nation’s welfare. They must be regarded primarily as the reservoir for the trained minds and bodies of tomorrow. This is not incon sistent with participation in the war-production effort by many o f the more mature, provided this participation is guided'and supervised so as to give them experience of some educational value and a feeling of direct contribution to wartime needs. Both their schooling and their employment must be carefully directed so as to conserve their educa tional opportunities and protect them from undue physical strain and work hazards. As the President on another occasion has said: “ All our energies at the present must be devoted to winning the war. Yet winning the war will be futile if we do not throughout the period o f its winning keep our people prepared to make, a'; lasting and worthy peace.” 1 ! ) 1 Letter to Dr. Everett Case, President of Colgate University, September 10, 1942, on the occasion of the beginning of Dr. Case’s term as president and the celebration of the 125th anniversary of the founding o f the university. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis FACING THE FACTS How many young workers between 14 and 18 years of age are employed? No count o f children and young persons at work has been made since early in 1940, when the census showed somewhat less than 900,000 boys and girls between 14 and 18 years o f age employed—209,347 of 14 arid 15 and 662,967 of 16 and 17 years.2 The only recent information is from rough estimates based on sample trends since that time, which indicate a total of around 2 million in January 1943, and around 3 million in the preceding July, during the school vacation period. O f these, about a fourth, according to the same rough estimates, were in the younger age group, that is, 14 or 15 years of-age. Reports o f employment and age certificates, issued in most States for children going to work, give clues to the upward trend since 1940. It must be borne in mind, however, that they show only the numbers obtaining certificates during a given period and not the number actually at work at any particular time. Though they do not tell the whole story, they indicate that in the year 1940, at the very least, more than 250,000 minors between 14 and 18 years of age, and in 1941 more than 500,000, entered their first full-time or part-time jobs. During the first 6 months of 1942 these young workers were joined by more than 50,000 children 14 and 15 years old and more than 275,000 young persons 16 and 17 years old. Incomplete reports for July to December 1942 already show a total of more than 300,000 minors between 14 and 18 years o f age entering full-time or part-time employment during this 6-month period; about 60,000 were 14 or 15 years of age. The number o f boys and girls o f these ages who obtained certificates for full-time or pa'rt-time jobs in 1941 was more than double the 1940 total, the increase for the 16- and 17-year-olds being 132 percent and for those o f 14 and 15 years, 77 percent. The number between 14 and 18 years of age obtaining certificates in the first 6 months of 1942 was about 60 percent greater for both 14- and 15-year-old and 16- and 17-year-old workers than in the corresponding period of 1941. The incomplete reports for the last 6 months of 1942 show that more than three times as many children 14 and 15 years of age left school for work in those months as in the same period of 1940 and also that more than three times as many took vacation or part-time jobs. In the 16* These figures do not give a complete picture of the extent of employment of boys and girls between 14 and 18 years of age. The fact that the census was taken in early spring inevitably resulted in the omission of many children of the ages covered who are regularly employed in agriculture. Although some commercial crops are under cultivation as early as the last week in March— the census date— the majority of children who engage in indus trialized agriculture are not working at that date. Also, it is probable that some part-time and self-employed child workers were not counted as employed. 4 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis k m and lT-year-old group four times as many boys and girls took full-time or part-time jobs in this 6-month period as in the corresponding period of 1940. These certificate figures, striking as they are, do not give a complete picture even o f the flow of children and young persons between 14 and 18 years of age into full-time and part-time employment. Many go to work without obtaining certificates, either because the law does not re quire a certificate for the occupation they enter or because the employer does not demand the certificate required by law. Certificates are not usually required for work in domestic service or agriculture. In some States much, if not all, nonfactory work outside school hours and dur ing vacation is outside the scope of the certificate law, and a few States have no State certificate system even for 14- and 15-year-old children. For minors of 16 and 17 about half the States do not require certificates, although administratively they are issued on request. Another important limitation on these certificate figures is that they reflect only legal employment of the young workers between 14 and 18 years o f age. In all parts of the country State officials who enforce labor laws have been reporting that illegal employment of minors has increased greatly. This is likely to happen under present conditions when jobs are easy for children to find, when employers are eager for workers, and when law-enforcement officials are much overworked. How many children under 14 years of age are employed? No one knows how many children under 14 years o f age are at work. The census of 1940, for the first time since 1870, did not enumerate workers under 14 years old. Employment-certificate figures do not "include them. Nevertheless, it is obvious from reports from all over the country and from general observation that many children younger than 14 are in fact engaged in street trades and industrialized agricul ture, where their employment is subject to comparatively little legal restriction, and that large numbers are employed in stores and in other miscellaneous kinds of work. There can be little doubt that the num ber of children under 14 years of age engaged in agriculture last sum mer reached into hundreds of thousands. Under most State laws the employment of children under 14 is prohibited in factory and commer cial occupations. However, State officials report many instances of illegal employment. Federal inspectors under, the Fair Labor Stand ards Act of 1938 have been finding violations of the act in the employ ment of these young children. O f the approximately 4,000 minors found employed contrary to the child-labor provisions o f the act during the year ended June 30,1942, nearly 1,200 were under 14 years o f age. 5 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Are more boys and girls going to work? Although a great many girls between 14 and 18 years o f age are being employed, the working boys o f these ages predominate and the proportion o f boys has been increasing. O f the 16- and 17-year-old minors who obtained first regular certificates3 in 1941, 59 percent were boys as compared with 56 percent in 1940 and 54 percent in 1939. In the corresponding group o f 14- and 15-year old minors, the propor tion o f boys is larger and has increased more rapidly; it was 67 percent in 1941, 58 percent in 1940, and 51 percent in 1939. Many more boys than girls are going to work during vacation and outside school hours; in 1941 only about a third of the minors o f 16 and 17 and a tenth of those o f 14 and 15 years were girls.4 What kinds o f work are these boys and girls doing? Some young persons 16 and 17 years o f age are going into plants producing war materials. For example, in aircraft factories they are doing assembly work or are working in sheet-metal shops; in shipyards they are doing subassembly work or are working in the sheet-metal shops, moldlofts, or machine shops. In other war plants they are undertaking a variety o f jobs. In larger numbers boys and girls of these ages are working in factories producing textiles, wearing apparel, shoes and other leather products, electrical equipment, and all sorts o f metal products, as well as various kinds o f machinery. However, although the proportion entering manufacturing industries is increas ing, the majority of 16- and 17-year-old workers are probably employed in nonmanufacturing industries—in wholesale establishments and warehouses; in retail stores as sales clerks, errand boys, stock boys, and shipping clerks; in offices; in laundries; as telegraph messengers and telephone operators; as ushers and cashiers in places of amusement; in hotels and restaurants; and as clerical workers in many industries. Many others, especially in the summer months, are employed on farms. The 14- and 15-year-old children find their way into more miscel laneous types o f employment. They are doing delivery and errand work; clerking in stores; working as busboys or counter boys in lunch rooms or as soda jerkers in drug stores; helping in filling stations and garages; doing miscellaneous clerical jobs; working as curb hops, as caddies, as pin boys in bowling alleys; delivering and selling news papers and working in other street trades; and doing housework and odd jobs in private homes. Like the 16- and 17-year-old boys and girls, * These certificates permitted the minor to leave school and take full-time employment, but some of the minors may in fact have continued in school and worked only outside school hours or in vacation. 4 Employment-certificate reports, upon which this information is based, are incomplete for domestic service, in which more girls than boys of these ages are employed, and for agriculture, in which more boys than girls of these ages are employed. 6 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis large numbers are engaged in cultivating and harvesting fruits and vegetables in industrialized agriculture. Children under 16 years of age found illegally employed by inspectors under the Fair Labor Standards Act o f 1938 included workers engaged in preparing fruits and vegetables and seafood in canning, packing, and freezing estab lishments and operating machines in other manufacturing plants 5 assembling, wrapping, and packing ; poultry picking ; and doing indus trial home work such as shelling nuts, caning chairs, making flowers, and stringing tags. What proportion o f these boys and girls are going into manu facturing industries? O f the minors 16 and IT years o f age who obtained regular employ ment or age certificates in 1941 according to reports received by the Children’s Bureau, 41 percent went into manufacturing industries, as compared with 36 percent in 1940. Comparatively few 14- and 15year-old children obtain certificates for regular factory work because the 16-year minimum-age standard set by the Fair Labor Standards Act o f 1938 affects productive work in all establishments producing goods for interstate commerce, and most manufacturing establish ments fall in this class. Thus, under the Federal act, only work in establishments producing no goods for interstate commerce and a small amount of nonproductive work in interstate factories are legal for children of 14 and 15 years. Moreover, 15 States have established a basic minimum age of 16 for work in factories, at least during school hours. As a result, only a small percentage of the children of 14 and 15 who left school for work (exclusive of newsboys) went into work for manufacturing establishments—3 percent in 1940 and 5 percent in 1941. The corresponding figure for those going to work during vacation or outside school hours is 2 percent in both years. Are boys and girls working in dangerous occupations or under harmful conditions? Many examples may be cited of fatal or disabling injuries that occur to boys and girls under 18 at work in occupations that demand experi ence and maturity o f judgment. A 13-year-old boy employed on odd jobs in a bakery started to clean a dough mixing machine while it was running. His arm caught in the machinery and he died as a result of the injuries received. A 14-year-old boy was killed as the result o f an accident when he was helping to operate a delinting machine in a cotton-ginning plant. His leg was struck by a part of the machine and he was knocked into the machine, where the saws caught his arm and mangled it and cut into his side. 7 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis A 15-year-old boy on the night shift in a laundry tried to extract a tangled sheet from an operating mangle. He was drawn into the mangle, his right arm was tom off above the elbow, and his leg was fractured. A 16-year-old farm hand fell asleep at 4 o’clock in the morning while he was driving a truck to market In the resulting accident he was severely injured. A 16-year-old boy who was a helper on a coal truck tried to jump onto the truck while it was moving. In doing so, his foot slipped and he fell under the rear wheel, which crashed his head and arm and caused instant death. An inexperienced 17-year-old boy working as a laborer in a bituminous coal mine was loading a truck underground at a coal conveyor in the mine. The con veyor safety belt, which was too long and extended beyond the guard, caught on the boy’s glove. Before the motor could be stopped, his left middle finger was twisted off at the second joint. More and more boys and girls attending school are going to work at part-time jobs. Most of them are 16- and 17-year-old high-school students, though many are 14 or 15 years of age and some even younger. The result in many cases is that the pupil’s health is impaired, and he either fails in his school work, or, discouraged with lack of school progress and lured by the pay envelope, he drops out o f school. Examples may be multiplied from one end of the country to the other. In one city a survey of 3 high schools shows from 31 to 41 percent o f the school enrollment employed. The majority are 16 and 17 years old but many are younger. In one boys’ school in this city about 2,000 are employed—269 in fac tory jobs, 211 in clerical work, 616 in sales jobs, 459 as delivery boys, and the rest chiefly as pin boys, ushers in theaters, garage helpers, and so forth. Nearly 400 are working 35 or more hours a week—257 of them 40 or more hours a week—in addition to carrying school work. A 14-year-old boy in the ninth grade goes to school from 8 :1 5 or 8 :3 0 a. m. until 2 p. m .; sells candy in a theater from 2 p. m. to 10 p. m. 6 days a week (with an hour off for supper). On one day he gets off from work at 6. His total hours of work are 46; with school hours added, his part-time and school work program amounts to 73^ hours a week. A 13-year-old girl works afternoons and evenings in a restaurant with a total of 56 hours a week o f school and work. A 14-year-old boy in the seventh grade works as delivery boy on a bakery truck on school days from 5 :3 0 to 8 : 00 a. m .; attends school from 9 :4 5 to 3 :1 5 p. m. On Saturdays he works from 5 : 30 a. m. to 5 :3 0 p. m., with three-quarters of an hour off. His wages are $9 a week. A 13-year-old boy in the eighth grade sets pins in a bowling alley at a wage of $13 a week. He works from 6 to 11 p. m. on school days and from 1 p. m. to 12 midnight on Saturday and Sunday, with a half-hour off. 8 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Bowling alleys are employing children from 12 years o f age and up until midnight or even until 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning. The result is weariness and poor work in school, truancy, and, too often, delinquency. What of needed educational opportunity? Even before the war equal educational opportunity—the demo cratic ideal—was far from attainment. According to the 1940 census, 1 out o f every 8 o f the adult population 25 years o f age and over had had less than 5 years of schooling. Ten percent o f the chil dren of the country 14 and 15 years o f age and 5 percent of those be tween 7 and 14 years of age were not attending school in March 1940. Among the rural farm children the average out of school was 18 per cent for the 14- and 15-year-olds and .9 percent for those between 7 and 14 years o f age. In some parts o f the country the proportion of children out of school was much higher—among the rural farm chil dren in some States, 23 percent or more for the 14- and 15-year-old group and 12 percent or more for the younger group. Great Britain has recognized education as an integral part of the war effort and has increased its appropriations for public education during these war years. Many British educators echo the regret of Prime Minister Churchill that England did not raise the age for leaving school (14 years) to 16 at the close o f the first World War, so that better-trained youth would now be available for the war effort. What has happened in the field o f child-labor and schoolattendance laws? Though there has been some pressure to repeal or modify protective provisions o f child-labor and school-attendance laws, serious relaxation o f standards was for the most part prevented in 1941 and 1942. In fact, in Louisiana and Puerto Rico notable advances were made in child-labor legislation in 1942. Moreover, although a number of States passed legislation under which hours o f labor and certain other stand ards may be relaxed during the war, the majority o f these laws provide that such relaxation shall not apply to minors under 18. In the field o f Federal legislation the minimum age for employment o f girls under the Public Contracts A c t 6 was reduced from 18 to 16 by a ruling o f the Secretary o f Labor under authority given her by the act, under safeguards strictly limiting the conditions o f labor and the kinds o f work permitted for girls o f 16 and 17. This ruling results in a minimum age o f 16 for both boys and girls, which is the basic minimum age for employment under the Fair Labor Standards Act * This act (the Walsh-Healey Act) applies to employment in the production of goods for the Federal Government under contracts in excess of $10,000. 9 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis o f 1938. The Secretary’s action was taken at the request o f the Federal departments most concerned with the war, and its purpose was to prevent retardation of essential production. In State laws relaxations in 1941 and 1942 related chiefly to the employment o f minors in the commercialized amusement areas—as, for example, in bowling alleys. In some States special provisions were made for release o f children from school for work in agriculture, though in a few instances for limited periods and under safeguards giving administrative control to agencies concerned with the welfare of youth. Other exceptions that were allowed lengthened hours of work or relaxed night-work prohibitions for 16- and 17-year-old minors. Much stronger demands for weakening legislative protection for young workers are evident this year, when most o f the State legisla tures are in session. For the most part the bills so far introduced deal with work in agriculture and bowling alleys, but some would lower standards for a wider range o f employment. On the other hand, in a few States bills raising standards have been introduced. PRINCIPLES AND STANDARDS How can wise plans be made for participation of youth in war tim e em ploym ent? Positive action must be initiated through State and local groups that represent both the forces primarily interested in the welfare o f youth and the forces primarily interested in production needs and the con tribution of young persons to those needs. These groups should plan and carry out definite programs for conserving the health and educa tional opportunities of youth under 18, while at the same time satisfy ing legitimate demands for their assistance in meeting labor needs in a particular area. Programs must be developed to meet existing sit uations, and future emergencies must be foreseen and planned for. Only an alert and aroused public opinion, coordinated through such group action, will recognize and successfully combat the dangers inherent in the present trends. What principles should guide programs for participation of youth in wartime em ploym ent? The following principles will provide a general foundation for com prehensive planning to guide the contribution o f children and young persons to the war program through employment: 1. Programs must be planned on the basis o f the particular needs of young persons at different ages.—In general, the need of children under 14 years o f age is for complete freedom for healthful physical, mental, and social growth, and their part in the war effort should be 10 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis limited to suitable tasks at home and suitable group activities as volunteers under careful supervision. They should not be considered as part of the hired labor force. For children of 14 and 15 also, edu cation and physical and social development are primary needs. I f they are to be employed, their work should be only in carefully se lected occupations and under conditions that properly protect them. Many young persons between 16 and 18 can make their best contribu tion to the war program by continuing their schooling. Those with special aptitudes and capacities must be encouraged to continue their training in order to meet more effectively their military or civic re sponsibilities. Others who will gain most by assuming the role of wage earner and worker or whose employment is found essential in the war program should be guided into occupations that are suited to their age and capacity and in which they can make the greatest con tribution with the least danger to their health and well-being. 2. Demands fo r these young workers must be carefully scrutinized.— This scrutiny is particularly important in cases of appeals to the schools for release of pupils for employment. The comparative im portance of the work they may perform if they curtail their schooling and of the education and training they will forfeit must be weighed. A careful check should be made with agencies responsible for supply ing workers to see whether other sources of labor can and should be used— for instance, men and women in minority groups, women not normally in the labor market—or whether the need should be met by appeal to consumers to sacrifice nonessential services. Children have frequently been employed, particularly the younger ones, without con sideration o f whether their services were actually needed, whether they were desired merely as a cheap and readily available labor supply, or whether other sources of labor could be used. 3. The health and safety o f all employed workers between Up and 18 years o f age must be protected.—This is particularly essential in view of increases in industrial accidents and in view of the stress and pres sure of present industrial conditions. Many young persons under 18 years o f age are entering jobs formerly filled by mature, older work ers. They are still in adolescence and comparatively immature' in emotion and intelligence. They are more susceptible to industrial accidents and probably to industrial poisons than older, more ex perienced persons. Workers 14 and 15 years of age need the greater safeguards, of course, but boys and girls of 16 and 17 entering industry for the first time are also in need of protective measures. In the inter ests of production as well as of the workers it is important that their physical well-being should be safeguarded in every possible way, and that they be given safe jobs. Particular attention should be given to limitation on hours, to provision for meal and rest periods, and to avoidance o f night employment. 11 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 4. Conditions o f 'part-time work fo r school children must he con trolled.—Employment of school children in part-time work is already widespread and is increasing rapidly. In some places school programs are being adjusted to shorten the school period and permit children to take jobs. Combined work and school programs if properly safeguarded may offer an opportunity to young persons to help in es sential production or community service and at the same time keep on with their education. But these programs must be carefully planned and directed i f harm to the child is to be avoided. Surveys in many parts of the country show that this planning and direction has often been insufficient or entirely absent and that thousands of children are undertaking a burden o f combined school and work far too heavy for them. For instance, in 9 junior or senior high schools in 4 eastern cities, a recent survey showed that in ad dition to children employed in street trades and domestic service,6 nearly 5,000 children out of a total enrollment o f approximately 17,000 were employed after school hours. O f these working students, 1,003 were under 16 and working in occupations prohibited to children of this age by State law. Children from 11 to 18 years o f age were em ployed in all sorts o f enterprises, working 6 and 7 days a week, 40, 50,and 60 hours a week. Night work was common—627 children were em ployed until 10 p. m. or later and 307 until midnight or later. From many parts of the country have come reports o f young schoolboys set ting up pins in bowling alleys until 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning. A school official in a Western State reports requests from employers for school children to work on shifts of 4 to 8 hours that require them to be on duty as late as 12 or 1 o’clock at night. Another example reported to the Children’s Bureau is that of a 15-year-old boy working 35 hours a week up to 10 and 11 p. m., as an usher in a movie theater, making a 60-hour week of school and work combined. The amount and kind o f work a high-school student can safely do in addition to his school work is limited, and his unrestricted contribution to a job may easily cost the Nation far more than it is worth in waste of his energies and in damage to a future citizen. Desirable limitations on part-time employment o f youth in school may vary with conditions, but in all cases opportunity should be maintained for a full night’s rest, for adequate recreation, and for safeguarding educational progress. 5. The widespread use o f school pupils fo r supplying emergency labor needs requires that the State and the comrmmity assume re sponsibility for the conditions under which these pupils are recruited and employed.—This assumption of responsibility by the community is particularly essential in the programs for employing children in the cultivation and harvesting of crops, in order to insure that these a Employment in these occupations outside school hours is not covered by the childlabor law of the State where the survey was made. 12 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis young workers are adequately safeguarded and that they make the most efficient possible contribution to production in areas where they are needed. Experience during 1942 shows the need for careful ad vance community planning of programs for the recruitment, place ment, and supervision of these young workers, for whom little protection has been provided by law. Leadership from State and community agencies is needed to insure this planning and the ob servance o f standards that will safeguard adequately the health and welfare of young workers drawn on to meet shortages in farm labor. Strict enforcement of such provisions of the school-attendance, childlabor, and other labor laws as are applicable to the work is funda mental. 6. A ll wartime programs fo r employment o f children and you/ng people v/nder 18 years of age should he conducted with due regard to child-labor and school-attendance standards established by law.— These standards are of special value in this period of rapid recruit ment o f new sources o f labor as a guide in distinguishing what is proper employment for boys and girls from what will be detrimental to them because of their youth. In the long run these standards also make for efficiency in production.7 Both school-attendance and childlabor laws should be actively enforced. 7. Growing pressure fo r the break-down of standards o f child-labor and compulsory school-attendance laws through legislation or ad ministrative action must be intelligently met. Pressure should be fore seen and met by advance planning and by intelligent analysis of legal standards in relation to the conditions of work for which the children are wanted and to the problems that the standards were designed to meet. Well-directed plans are needed to combat Con fusion and thoughtless action. I f careful study does not disclose any practicable alternative to modification of existing standards, the modi fications adequate to meet the need may often be worked out within ^ 0 framework of the law. Any relaxations should be limited to the duration o f the particular emergency, and safeguards and adequate administrative controls should be provided. 8. I f child-labor and school-attendance laws are to be more than a dead letter, law-enforcement agencies, already depleted and over worked, must be strengthened.—Along with the current increase in the employment of children and youth have come widespread reports of employment contrary to law, particularly of children under 16 years o f age. Sufficient funds must be appropriated for effective admin istration of child-labor and school-attendance laws in the States com mensurate with the task created by the greatly increased employment t Information on legislation may be obtained from the State departments of labor and from the Children’s Bureau of the U. S. Department of Labor. 13 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis o f young persons under 18 years o f age, and qualified staff necessary to effective administration must be provided. 9. Children and young persons themselves must realize that educa tion is itself a patriotic duty.—Children and parents should be brought to understand that in doing their school work well, these young people are upholding the American tradition just as surely as if they were fighting in northern Africa or making guns and bullets in a muni tions factory. Young people’s patriotic service is to develop to the fullest degree their capacities for citizenship in a democratic world. At the same time they may be called upon to participate in voluntary community programs in which their services are vitally needed. What guideposts point the way to wise participation of young persons under 18 in wartime em ploym ent? Since the beginning of the war Federal agencies and other groups concerned with the well-being o f the children and youth o f the Nation have developed plans to protect this reservoir of future manpower. These plans include the setting up o f specific standards and policies for the participation of young people in meeting the labor needs of the Nation with due regard for the essential conservation of the health and educational opportunities o f youth. In February 1943 the War Manpower Commission issued a state ment of national policy for the employment of boys and girls under 18 that should serve as a guide to all agencies, groups, and indi viduals interested both in promoting the welfare o f youth and in augmenting the effective manpower of the Nation. This statement of p olicy 8 recognizes not only that many young persons are needed in the labor force but also that careless and unsupervised use of youth power is a waste of the most precious resource of the Nation. It starts from the premise that the first responsibility and obligation of young people even in wartime is to take full advantage o f their edu cational opportunities in order to prepare themselves for war and post-war services and for the duties o f citizenship. It then proposes standards to insure that those who enter employment will make the maximum contribution to manpower needs consistent with the pro tection o f their welfare. In addition to emphasizing the need for observance of State and Federal laws, this statement o f policy would establish 14 years as the age minimum for entrance to the hired labor force, 16 years as the age minimum for factory work, and 18 years as the age minimum for hazardous work. It would also set up safeguards for keeping youth in school and preventing excessive part-time employment and would 8 Statement of Policy on Employment of Youth Under 18 Years of Age. Reprint from The Child, March 1943. Children’s Bureau, U. S. Department of Labor, Washington, D. C 1943. 14 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis place special protection around all employment o f boys and girls under 18 years o f age. Boys and girls 14 years o f age or over in school, under this policy, should be employed during school hours only if the area or regional manpower director has determined that temporary labor requirements o f an emergency character cannot be met by full use o f other available sources of labor. They should be employed outside school hours only to the extent that school and work activities involve no undue strain, with a maximum limit o f 8 hours a day for school and work combined, at least for those under 16. I f school programs are adjusted to permit their employment, provision should be made for safeguarding the educational progress o f both those who go to work and those who do not. For boys and girls between 14 and 18 whose employment is essential to the war effort, it is pointed out that they should engage in work suitable to their age and strength, avoiding especially occupations hazardous or detrimental to their health or welfare. The m a xim um hours o f labor standards specified for these young workers accord with those generally recognized as making for greatest efficiency for work ers o f all ages—a maximum 8-hour day and 6-day week, with certain specified deviations, and provision for lunch and rest periods. When the plans for their recruitment involve transportation to and from work, the total period of work and transportation should not exceed 10 hours a day. The protection o f young workers from night em ployment is contemplated by a proposed limitation of employment to hours not detrimental to health and welfare. As a measure o f fairness, and to prevent employment of young work ers as a means of lessening work opportunities for adults, this policy calls for paying young workers under 18 the same wages paid adults for similar job performance. Adequate facilities and safeguards for health and safety, and safe and adequate means of transportation whenever necessary to transport young persons to and from work, are also urged. For work requiring the child to live away from home, the precautions proposed include: (1) no recruitment o f children o f 14 and 15 except in connection with programs o f youth-serving agencies providing close supervision; ( 2) for minors under 18 recruited for agricultural work, provision of suitable living conditions, sanitary facilities, and health protection and supervision; and (3) contact with the United States Em ployment Service or such other agencies as may be designated by the War Manpower Commission by youth leaving home in search of work, to insure that a specific opening in a legal job is available in a locality where there are suitable housing arrangements. 15 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis In general, the broad outlines of this blueprint for national policy issued by the War Manpower Commission are in harmony with a num ber o f guides outlined by other national groups. These include: (1) Program o f Action Adopted by the [Ninth National] Con ference [on Labor Legislation], in Résumé of the Proceedings of the Conference.* ( 2) Statement sent December 31,1942, to State labor commissioners by Federal Departments concerned with labor and production (War, Navy, and Labor Departments, War Production Board, War Man power Commission, Maritime Commission, and Office o f Defense Transportation).10 (3) Statement o f principles adopted by the Children’s Bureau Gen eral Advisory Committee on Protection of Young Workers.10 For further assistance in dealing with employment o f young persons under 18, State and local groups will find the following publications of the Children’s Bureau useful : (1) A Program of State Action developed by the Children’s Bureau Commission on Children in Wartime, the Office o f Civilian Defense, and the Office o f Defense Health and Welfare Services. A program dealing with all phases o f child welfare in wartime. ( 2) Which Jobs For Young Workers?, a series of advisory standards for employment o f young workers under 18 in war industries; de veloped by the Children’s Bureau with the advice of employers, labor groups, and organizations interested in safety. The standards point out types o f work suitable for young workers in various war industries and types in which they should not be engaged because o f special hazards. (3) Guides to Successful Employment o f Non-Farm Youth in W ar time Agriculture, prepared by the Children’s Bureau, U. S. Depart ment o f Labor, in consultation with the U. S. Department o f Agri culture, Office o f Civilian Defense, Office o f Education, War Manpower Commission, and the Children’s Bureau Subcommittee on Young Workers in Wartime Agriculture, and approved by these agencies. •Obtainable from the Division of Labor Standards, Ù. S. Department of Labor Washing ton, D. C. “ Obtainable from the Children’s Bureau, U. S. Department of Labor, Washington, D. C. W My ■t ! ’ ' ' 16 D . 1 . GOVERNMENT PRINTING O F FICE : 1 *4 3 For sale by the Superintendent o f Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington, D. C. - Price 5 cents. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
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