There is a push in many states not to protect these kids but to relax child labor laws.
Louisiana lawmakers vote to remove lunch breaks for child workers. In the United States, not only does child labor underpin large segments of the U.S. economy, an ugly outgrowth of corporate greed and our broken immigration system, but conditions for minors in the workforce are actually getting worse.
The last few years have seen a spike in violations of child labor laws. The Department of Labor reports an 88 percent increase in these violations nationwide between 2019 and 2023. Some states wildly exceed that number in Pennsylvania, violations rose 276 percent in one year from 2022 to 2023. In this climate, exploitation of immigrant kids of color runs rampant.
According to Kent Wong from the UCLA Labor Center, which is seriously alarmed about the child labor issue and calling for action, kids under 18 in the U.S are incredibly in hazardous jobs, including operating industrial lathe machines, working in a logging factory without masks or goggles and roofing work that required them to labor for 13 hours a day and carry 80-pound loads onto the roof on their shoulders.
According to Wong and his team, there is a push in many states not to protect these kids but to relax child labor laws.