Should children be expected

to work?

The number of youngsters with part-time jobs has almost halved in the last five years.
Might the youth of Britain benefit from a revival of child labour?
[] A survey of local authorities by the BBC has revealed that recently the number of
children licensed to do part-time jobs has dropped dramatically. A Freedom of
5Information request to every relevant authority in England and Wales - 175 councils produced figures from 101 councils for the years from 2004-2009.

The figures showed that while 50,000 13-15 year-olds were licensed to work in
those areas in 2004, by 2009 the number had fallen to 30,500 - a drop of almost
40%.
10By law, children doing jobs such as paper rounds or working in shops between

the ages of 13 and 15 should have a licence issued by the local council - though
not all do.
Official statistics from the Labour Force Survey, showing the proportion of 16
and 17 year-olds who had part-time jobs while still at school or college full-time,
15showed a similar trend. While around four out of 10 of these teenagers had jobs
during the late 1990s, in the first quarter of this year the figure stood at a little
more than two out of 10.
So, what's going on? Terry Drury, chairman of the National Network for Children
in Employment and Entertainment, says a range of factors is probably
20responsible for the decline.
In some areas adult migrant workers are competing for the work, he says, and
there is also the issue of school hours.
"In the last few years schools have altered their starting times. Now clearly that
must restrict youngsters from doing a paper round. When we go and knock on
25employers' doors, the report comes back that they can employ an adult for just
the same price as someone at school," he said.
But the Children's Commissioner, Maggie Atkinson, says she does not think
children should normally go out to work before the age of 16.
"I would be far more sanguine about continued decline in 13 to 15 year-olds
30working than maybe the older ones," she said. "Their brain is still going through
furious pace of development. Putting them through extra hours of work when
their schooling is as demanding as it is - for some youngsters, it would be the
last straw."
But some experts argued there had been a more fundamental shift in attitudes
35towards childhood.
Although there is evidence that many children want to work, some academics
believe the increased pressure of school work holds many of them back. But

research at University College London suggests that a part-time job does not
have any significant effect on a child's exam results.
40The drive for "education, education, education" has gone too far, according to

Berry Mayall, professor of childhood studies at the Institute of Education.

"Quite frankly, school doesn't really suit everybody," she says. "Paid work brings
in some money of your own. It gives you a taste of a world outside school. And it
gives you a sense that you are able to do something other than school work."
45Other academics believe the decline in children's work has deeper roots. They

argue there may have been a fundamental change in the way children grow up.
Jane Humphries, professor of economic history at the University of Oxford, says
children had lost a sense of control over their own lives.
Children today are priceless possessions whose wants and needs are attended
50to. Because they can obtain pocket money from parents, they can by and large
enjoy drifting around in society. You have to actually exercise some responsibility
and initiative in order to get a job.
BBC Radio 4 Analysis 20 September 2010