“Age groups constitute a final social category relevant to economic life. Children routinely work in agricultural societies, and family economies in all but the wealthiest classes depend on this labor. However, while children’s work provides opportunities for training, it also provides opportunities for abuse, which differentiates it from the work of many adults. Many children have been subject to harsh discipline, including physical abuse or sexual exploitation, as part of their work lives. Benjamin Franklin was apprenticed as a printer to his brother in Massachusetts, but finally fled to Philadelphia because he was being beaten so often. Continued attention to child labor and to abuses preoccupies many international agencies today; while the percentage of children at work steadily declines on a global basis, there are many exceptions, and rates of child labor are actually increasing in South and Southeast Asia…”

Stearns, Peter N.. "Economic Life as Daily Life: Work, Living Standards, and Consumerism" Daily Life Online. Greenwood Publishing Group. <http://dailylife.greenwood.com/dle.aspx?k=3&x=GR3233&bc=DBDL1311&p=GR3233-1149>.