Editing Child labour (section)

=== Britain ===
{{Main|Child labour in the British Industrial Revolution}}
Many factors played a role in Britain's long-term economic growth, such as the [[Industrial Revolution]] in the late 1700s and the prominent presence of child labour during the industrial age.{{sfn|Lieten|Meerkerk|2011|p=121}} Children who worked at an early age were often not forced; but did so because they needed to help their family survive financially. Due to poor employment opportunities for many parents, sending their children to work on farms and in factories was a way to help feed and support the family.{{sfn|Lieten|Meerkerk|2011|p=121}} Child labour first started to occur in England when household businesses were turned into local labour markets that mass-produced the once homemade goods. Because children often helped produce the goods out of their homes, working in a factory to make those same goods was a simple change for many of these youths.{{sfn|Lieten|Meerkerk|2011|p=121}} Although there are many counts of children under the age of ten working for factories, the majority of children workers were between the ages of ten and fourteen.

Another factor that influenced child labour was the demographic changes that occurred in the eighteenth century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Honeyman |first1=Katrina |title=Child Workers in England, 1780-1820: Parish Apprentices and the Making of the Early Industrial Labour Force |date=2007 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. |isbn=978-0-7546-6272-3 |page=3 }}</ref> By the end of the eighteenth century, 20 per cent of the population was made up of children between the ages of 5 and 14. Due to this substantial shift in available workers, and the development of the industrial revolution, children began to work earlier in life in companies outside of the home.{{sfn|Honeyman|2016|p=157}} Yet, even though there was an increase of child labour in factories such as cotton textiles, there were large numbers of children working in the field of [[agriculture]] and domestic production.{{sfn|Honeyman|2016|p=157}}

With so many children working, little or no schooling increased child illiteracy.{{sfn|Honeyman|2016|p=163}} More working class parents chose not to send their children to work. Economic changes — advancing technology, raised wages, more factory regulations — reduced number of child workers.{{sfn|Honeyman|2016|p=169}}

In 1933, [[England and Wales]] adopted legislation restricting the use of children under 14 in employment. The [[Children and Young Persons Act 1933]], defined the term ''child'' as anyone of compulsory school age (age sixteen). In general no child may be employed under the age of fifteen years, or fourteen years for light work.<ref>{{cite web |title=Children's Rights: United Kingdom (England and Wales) |url=https://www.loc.gov/law/help/child-rights/uk.php |website=The Library of Congress |publisher=The Law Library of Congress |access-date=12 August 2019}}</ref>