The U.S. has regulations on where, when and how long youth can work. But with more companies violating child labor laws, better penalties are needed, a new report says.
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“Policymakers should develop a package of measures that will increase the likelihood of detection, deter violations by creating genuinely meaningful consequences, and help support children who have been victims.”
— Terri Gerstein
Policymakers can help combat rising child labor violations in the U.S. by toughening penalties and increasing funding for enforcement, a recent report says.
Child labor has escalated in the U.S. in recent years, with violations rising almost 90% since 2019, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Low enforcement rates and inefficient civil and criminal penalties have failed to deter employers from illegally hiring and using young workers, the February report from the Economic Policy Institute found. Some employers view the benefits of child labor as outweighing the costs of violation.
The Federal Labor Standards Act permits children as young as 14 to work in a variety of jobs. But the law prohibits their employment in jobs hazardous to health and restricts the number of hours they work. Increasingly, however, laws are failing as deterrents. In Pennsylvania, for example, the state experienced a 276% increase in child labor violations from 2022 to 2023.
Some youth are at higher risk for exploitation by employers. In 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported a 69% increase in Hispanic children illegally employed by U.S. companies. Researchers linked the rise with a surge of children from Latin American countries arriving in the U.S. in recent years.
Migrant children arriving without their parents are especially vulnerable to exploitative child labor conditions. They have been found working in dangerous jobs in the meatpacking and poultry industry and in construction, the report said.
Some of the biggest brands in America have incurred child labor violations, such as Cheerios, Nature Valley, J. Crew and Fruit of the Loom. Last year, Packers Sanitation Services was fined $1.5 million for employing children as young as 13, where they worked in dangerous, unhealthy conditions in meat processing plants in multiple states.
Department of Labor investigations found nearly 5,800 children employed in violation of the law in fiscal year 2023. But the full scope of violations is unknown, given gaps in reporting and enforcement, the new report said. Most children in the workplace lack knowledge of their legal protections, and some adult workers may not report the abuses out of fear of losing their job.
New policies should incorporate measures aimed at safeguarding the rights of children in work settings, the report said. Recommendations include offering restitution for victims of child labor, amending workers’ compensation laws to cover children, and strengthening work permit or employment certification prerequisites for minors.
In addition, policies should toughen civil and criminal penalties for violations. Researchers said that states could implement measures to prevent companies with violations from obtaining government contracts, and employ public disclosure statements to inform consumers of violations.
“State lawmakers can have a tremendous impact on protecting children and stopping child labor violations,” Terri Gerstein, JD, report author and director of the New York University Wagner Labor Initiative, said in a news release. “Policymakers should develop a package of measures that will increase the likelihood of detection, deter violations by creating genuinely meaningful consequences, and help support children who have been victims.”
The recent upsurge in child labor violations is proof that current federal and states laws are insufficient, the report said.
For more information on “Policies for States and Localities to Fight Oppressive Child Labor,” visit www.epi.org.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
