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Work
can help develop a sense of independence and responsibility.
However, overworking can affect education and create risks to
health. It can also be exploited.
In
the USA, as well as in other countries, such as Canada, the United
Kingdom, the European Union, Japan, Australia and New Zealand,
there are laws to protect working children under 16. These state
that no children should be employed:
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under a certain age (usually
13 years of age);
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during school hours;
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outside certain hours (usually
before 7.00 am or after 7.00 pm);
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for more than so many hours on
a school day or on a Sunday;
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for lifting or carrying
anything heavy enough to cause injury;
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in any industrial concern.
We
in the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand do not have
totally unblemished records in the use of child labor,
particularly in the use of the children of female outworkers
(usually poor migrant female workers from Asia), who assist their
mothers in the production of garments in sweatshop conditions. One
disturbing fact about piecework in the USA and Australia is the
incidence of children working. While it is rare to find children
directly employed by contractors, children work long hours
alongside their parents or other siblings, working on industrial
sewing machines after school, until late at night and during
school holidays.
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