Capitalism and Child Labor

There is a myth that says capitalism is responsible for child labor and the only thing standing between children and greedy exploiters are child labor laws. The truth is that capitalism is the reason why there are fewer children working per capita today than in centuries past. According to Marian Tupy and Gale Pooley, one factor that led to a decrease in child labor was the greater abundance of food and other necessities produced by labor-saving machines, writing that “Prior to mechanization of agriculture, which increased farm productivity, there were no food surpluses to sustain idle hands, not even those of children” (p. 301). Throughout the centuries, children had to work in order to survive. As production became more efficient and workers’ wages increased due to businesses competing for their labor, it “enabled more parents to forego their children’s labor and send them to school instead” (p. 302). This explains why there was a significant decrease in the use of child labor in the 19th and early 20th century before child labor laws were widely established. Robert Hessen in a contributing essay to Ayn Rand’s book CapitalismL The Unknown Ideal, writes that one group of people we should be thanking for reducing child labor are the capitalists who invest in better methods of production, writing that “Their efforts and investments in machinery led to a rise in real wages, to a growing abundance at lower prices, and to an incomparable improvement in the general standard of living” (Hessen, p. 120). None of this is to say that child labor laws shouldn’t exist, but if we are concerned about reducing child labor in poorer nations, then we might start by identifying those factors responsible for stifling the productivity of labor. 

— Colin Braman

References

Marian Tupy & Gale Pooley (2023). Superabundance: The Story of Population Growth, Innovation, and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet. Cato Institute.

Robert Hessen (1967). “The Effects of the Industrial Revolution on Women and Children.” In Ayn Rand’s Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (p. 117-125).