Tenements Serve as In-Home Child Labor Factories
Tenement housing in New York served as small factories for many residents in the early 1900s. Tenants living in these low-income housing units often took on piecework to earn an extra income from their own homes, with the whole family helping out once they were old enough. Piecework was the assembly of small goods from home, which would be sold back to a company at a price-per-piece. Even small children could participate, helping to count pieces or preparing supplies. In this image, the Malatesta family assembles 10 to 12 gross of artificial flowers per day in their New York City apartment. They make six cents per gross. Mr. Malatesta helps out, as his health was too bad to work outside the home. Frank, age 14, and John, age 11, work Saturday afternoons and evenings until 10 or 11 pm. Lizzie, age 4, separates the petals to help the production.