WHY CHILD LABOR LAWS ARE MORE HARMFUL THAN HELPFUL

When people think of child labor they think of 8 year olds working in coal mines or sweat shops in Africa, being abused to make a profit for the greedy capitalists. First we need to ask "Why are the kids working?" They aren't being drafted into mass labor forces by evil corporations, they're trying to support their families. People think kids work because of terrible parenting, but the fact is they have to work because of the terrible state society has them in. Because society is so unproductive, the kids HAVE to work or the family will starve. People seem to think that whenever the industrial revolution came around during the 1800's everyone was like "Now that capitalism's here we can force children to work in factories!" Before the free market came around it was a fact of life that everyone (except the government of course) would be born, work, and die poorer than dirt. As the free market evolved, people began to steadily improve their quality of living meaning that kids had to work less and less. Child labor doesn't go away because of laws and regulations, they go away because mom and/or dad can bring more money into the house so the kids don't have to. Child labor laws come from the elementary idea that "If there's something I don't agree with I'll make a law against it and that'll take care of the problem!"

             The contrary was proven in Bangladesh in 2006 when they passed labor laws, specifically targeted at keeping children from working. The bill was encouraged by americans and europeans who thought they were doing these kids a favor.  After the bill was passed one of two things happened. The children went into prostitution  or they simply staved to death. Child labor is never pretty but it is the best option from a small selection of terrible ones. In many third world countries where child labor is prevalent  many children make 20-25% of the family income. If you lose a fourth of your income in these countries then you will starve, its just a fact. The answer to the problem of child labor isn't to deny these kids the right to help their families but to encourage more capitalism and freer markets which will steadily improve the standard of living, meaning that the children won't have to work such demeaning jobs. As with most problems in life this is no easy answer. It involves admitting that we often don't know whats best for others. It is also not a perfect end all solution. Child labor would still exist, but we would be able to cut our losses by allowing freer markets to drive up the standard of living for many people.