Ravages of The Great Depression of the 20th century. Hall County, Nebraska.October 17, 1940. Colorized-by-JÁbrego

Children and sugar beets by L C Harmon.

( Records of the Office of the Secretary of Agriculture.)

 

 

● Child labor in the United States during the late 30s and early 40s.

Gertrude Folks Zimand, General Secretary of the National Child Labor Committee, in "The Changing Picture of Child Labor,"published in 1944 in the Journal of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (pages 83-91), reported that the 1940 census showed, among 14- to 15-year-olds, a total of 4,347,665 attending school, and a total of 209,347 gainfully employed (no number was reported for children ages 7-14 who were not in school but were gainfully employed, but the number of these children attending school was 15,034,695; the numbers for 16- to 17-year-olds were 3,361,206 in school and 662,967 gainfully employed). The term "Gainfully employed" included full- and part-time work, either in industry or agriculture. There was some overlap in these numbers because some children were in school but were also working, at least part-time. But according to Zimand, 64 percent of the 14- to 15-year-olds and 83 percent of the 16- to 17-year-olds who were working were out of school and were therefore presumably working full time. teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/23929

 

●B&W Image source National Archives: www.archives.gov/press/press-kits/1930-census-photos

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