CHILD LABOR AND THE DIVISION-OF-LABOR IN THE EARLY ENGLISH COTTON MILLS

The share of children employed in English cotton factories fell signif icantly before the introduction of effective child labor legislation i n the early 1830s, The early factories employed predominantly children because adults without factory experience were relatively unproductiv e factory workers. The subsequent growth of the cotton industry foster ed the development of a labor market for productive adult factory work ers. This effect helps account for the shift toward adults in the cott on factory workforce.