Review of research over 2 decades suggests that two-thirds to three-quarters of British children have some experience of paid employment by the minimum school-leaving age (16). Recent studies in England and Scotland confirm that 2.2-2.6 million children worked at some time before age 16. (SK)

Recent evidence has emerged that in Britain, like the United States, many children below minimum school-leaving age are working. Often, the work is illegal. Research in the United States suggests that many risk accidents and other hazards to health. Evidence from Britain is of a more fragmentary nature, but enough exists to suggest a need for…