Historically, children have been allowed to work in some of our most hazardous occupations. In the early part of the 20th century, child labor reformers used photographs and case studies to highlight these hazards. Their voices were needed because mainstream newspapers were compromised by their role as employers of newsboys.
Publishers' influence can be seen in the
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which exempts newspaper delivery jobs. I am doing research on how newspaper publishers and their trade associations influenced legislation in the early part of the 20th century.
Historically, street trades, which included newsboys, were exempted from child labor
laws or covered by lower standards. Part of the rationale was that the children were self-employed contractors. In the early 1900s, the National Child Labor Committee found a number of school-aged children who weren't in school. Ironically, US senators and representatives bought their papers from boys between 8 and 11.
Today, newspaper delivery-related mishaps are the leading cause of death and injury among child workers in New York State.
Injury rates aren't tracked, but incomplete data reveal that of 99 news vendors killed on the job nationally (1992 to 1997), 11 were younger than 18.
Courts still determine carriers to be self-employed, thus unprotected by workers’Äô compensation.
Also, the street trades exemption of the Fair Labor Standards Act is exploited by traveling youth crews. This door-to-door selling is rated among the 5 worst jobs for teens by the National Consumers League. The Act also exempts farm labor. Each year, 1000,000 children under 20 are injured on farms and more than 100 are killed.
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