eli5: isnt child labor counter productive?

404 views

cause according to [this article](https://www.historycrunch.com/child-labor-in-the-industrial-revolution.html#/) children as young as 4 years old used to be employed, but that just seems incredibly counter productive. most 4 year olds i know cant even tie their shoes. cause once a child can function without supervision without dying (so 9-12) i can see why from their fucked point of view they would use child labor, but i feel like the resources needed to train and keep the children alive would far outweigh the reward for basically free labor

In: 0

8 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Kids ask for less money than adults, and there used to be a lot of very simple jobs that have since been replaced with machines.

There are still a ton of jobs that would be more profitable if done by a clever child rather than a dumb adult, but that’s frowned upon because it keeps children from going to school. Less productivity now in exchange for more productivity later. Although school is also sort of a daycare so that parents have more time to work.

You are viewing 1 out of 8 answers, click here to view all answers.