Question

Why were children often hired to work in factories during the Industrial Revolution?

Men were too busy on the family
• farm to work in factories, so factory owners needed to hire children.
Factories were too dangerous for
• women to work in, so factory owners hired children instead.
Children could fit into tight spaces between machines and could be paid smaller wages, so factory owners hired them.
There were no schools for children who lived in the city, so factory owners hired them so they had something to do during the day.

Answer 1

"Children could fit into tight spaces between machines and could be paid smaller wages, so factory owners hired them."

Brief explanation: Factory owners wanted cheap, controllable labor for tasks (like fixing machines, cleaning under equipment, operating small parts) that often required small hands and bodies. There were few labor laws or compulsory schooling then, and many poor families depended on children's wages, so children were widely available to work.