Children – the next ones in the meat grinder

The Arkansas governor signed a bill to allow children as young as 14 to work without parental consent. The immigration system lost 85,000 teens, many of whom are suspected to have been victims of labor trafficking. The Nebraska governor says we need to force women to have more babies, so we have little white workers and not brown immigrants.

The battle over child labor is not new. During the Progressive Era, Congress tried to regulate child labor twice. The first bill in 1916 prohibited interstate transportation of goods made at a factory in which children under 14 worked or children 14-16 worked excessive hours. The Supreme Court struck that bill down as exceeding the commerce power and invading states’ rights. (Hammer v. Dagenhart, 247 U.S. 251, 1918)

The second effort was in 1919 that any mine employing children under 16 or factory that permitted children to work excessive hours had to pay a 10% excise tax on their profits. That was also held unconstitutional as being a penalty regulating conduct reserved to the states. (Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co., 259 U.S. 20, 1922)

Congress then proposed a Child Labor Amendment in 1924 that said, “Congress shall have power to limit, regulate, and prohibit the labor of persons under eighteen years of age.” It was sent to the States in 1924. Arizona ratified it in 1925. By 1937, 28 states had ratified it and there it stalled. It only needs 10 more states to ratify, and it could follow the Madison Amendment and the ERA into the Constitution as Amendment 29.

In the 1930s, about 70% of children under 16 were employed in agriculture. Next were manufacturing and mechanical industries, trade, and domestic and personal service. Today it is agriculture, construction, and the garment and service industry. The Economic Policy Institute report (Child Labor Laws are under attack in states across the country, Jennifer Sherer and Nina Mast, March 24, 2023, Economic Policy Institute) found that as violations of child labor protections are rising (37% in the last year alone) states are trying to weaken protections.

The Iowa Senate just passed one of the most extreme bills. Children as young as 14 can work in meat coolers and industrial laundries, at 15 they can work in assembly lines, and at 16 and 17 they can serve alcohol. The bill would allow children of 14.5 years old to drive themselves to work up to 50 miles from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Now what could go wrong with a bunch of 14-year-olds driving in the dark after a grueling day at work? Parents could lie about their child’s age, states could waive penalties for violators, and employers would be immune from lawsuits arising from the injury, illness, or death of a child. You can sue a person who hits your dog but not one who kills your child.

The Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders bragged about the law she signed repealing restrictions for 14- and 15-year-olds who no longer need a work certificate or even parental consent. Huckabee Sanders called parental permission requirements an “arbitrary burden.”

The Ohio Senate passed a bill to let 14 to 15-year-olds work until 9 p.m. on school nights. In New Hampshire since 2022 they have allowed 14-year-olds to bus tables where alcohol is served and repealed a provision that limited the number of night shifts teens could work per week. In New Jersey since 2022 they allow teens to work up to 50 hours a week in the summer and restrict breaks to every six hours rather than five.

One state senator said it should be easier to hire young people. It’s not hard now. The unemployment rate for 16-24-year-olds is 8%, which matches the pre-Covid low of 2019, and that was the lowest it had been since the 1950s.

Decades of scientific research shows the harm to health and development of children by excess working, workplace injuries, and chemical and hazardous materials exposure. If children forego further education, they harm their lifelong economic prospects and the growth of the country.

Much of what the states are doing violates federal law under the Fair Labor Standards Act that sets the floor on wages, hours and child labor. States can act by raising the minimum wage, eliminate the sub-minimum wage for youth and the disabled, erase agricultural loopholes that harm children, stop wage theft, and repeal “right to work” laws.

Dianne Post is an international human rights attorney.