Child labor is not just history, and it’s showing up in class

Images of children working in dimly lit mills or smudged with dirt as they harvest cotton under blazing sun are a thing of a past—at least that’s what most people believe. But a recent panel discussion described how child labor is a “today problem” and it’s on the rise. On Oct. 9 the Albert Shanker Institute gathered labor experts and child advocates to explore today’s version of labor exploitation among children and discuss real solutions to address it.

Educators, healthcare providers and public employees who interact with children play a crucial role in addressing this growing problem, since we see children every day. The panel included tips on how to recognize signs of child labor, and steps to protect children from harm.

Child Labor 101

Child labor is not to be confused with “good first jobs,” which can run the gamut from bagging groceries or busing tables at a cafe or helping out on the family farm, explained Bridget Dutton, program analyst and national community outreach and resource planning specialist from the Office of Performance and Communications at the U.S. Department of Labor. These positions give young people the opportunity to develop valuable skills and prepare them to launch fulfilling careers later in life. And, of course, they can earn money and help their families stay afloat.

It's when labor laws are bent and broken that problems arise. Dutton explained “Child Labor 101,” the basics of child labor law. Generally, children must be 14 years old to work, with a few exceptions such as casual babysitting. Depending on their age, they should not work late at night, and they should not work past 7 p.m. or more than 18 hours per week when school is in session.

Perhaps most important, children may not take hazardous jobs, including work in manufacturing and processing plants, like the meat processing plants featured in a recent New York Times article about child labor. They may not use power equipment or work in construction or mining.

In short, busing tables or washing dishes, taking tickets at the amusement park or dipping ice cream—all fine, as long as the hours are appropriate. Mopping up the killing floor of the meat-packing plant—absolutely not.

But that’s exactly where some children are working. The Department of Labor has found more than 15,000 children employed in violation of federal child labor law, said Jessica Looman, the administrator of the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor. Since 2019 the number of illegally employed children has risen by 88 percent, and in 2023 more than 500 children were employed in hazardous occupations.

“Many of us thought that illegal child labor was a 100-year-old problem,” said Looman. “It is not. It is a today problem.”

Some children are working “brutal” jobs, said Mary Cathryn Ricker, executive director of the Albert Shanker Institute. “You’re seeing children falling from roofs, we’re seeing children who are being crushed by vehicles and equipment,” said Looman. “We had a child who was employed in a sawmill in Wisconsin and was killed based on the injuries they suffered in that workplace.”

Increases in this type of work are due in part to hiring structures, said David Weil, a professor at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. While food processing giants like General Mills and Frito-Lay declare their absolute objection to child labor, the staffing agencies they use have fewer scruples and wind up finding economically vulnerable children who are struggling to survive and desperate for work. Similar chains of employment occur in the auto industry, said Weil.

Know the signs, make the call

Clear signs of possible child labor violations often show up in classrooms, in school nurse stations or at healthcare facilities, said Dutton. Educators might see signs of child labor violations when a student is frequently absent or has a pattern of arriving late; they might be sleepy, their grades might drop suddenly, or there could be a loss of focus. There might also be evidence of injuries such as burns, cuts and bruises.

If you learn of child labor violations, you can call the Wage and Hour Division at 1-866-487-9243, and child labor investigators will look into the situation. “If you are worried about a kid that is working in a dangerous workplace, it’s just important to make the call,” said Looman. “When we hold employers accountable … that’s where we’re going to break this cycle.”

“We as educators have a special responsibility and a special opportunity to lift up the stories of our students who are facing these exploitative conditions on the job,” said Kent Wong, project director for Labor and Community Partnerships at UCLA Labor Center and a vice president of CFT, the AFT affiliate in California. Wong added that a significant portion of labor violations occur within immigrant communities. “Immigrant youth are particularly vulnerable to the exploitation that they face on the job,” where they are intimidated and afraid to speak out against abuses.

Noting a “huge rise” in unaccompanied minor children—those children who cross the border into the United States without a guardian—Jack Kearns, who has researched child labor violations at the UCLA Labor Center, said many young workers are trafficked into their jobs. But others voluntarily sign up: “They need the extra money to survive,” said Kearns. That’s why the problem of child labor is a larger issue. A wholistic approach to solving it, said Kearns, would involve creating stronger social safety nets “to ensure no child ever has to live in poverty” or work at a hazardous job.

Addressing the problem

Legislation could also make a difference. In some places, there has been an “evisceration of child labor laws” at the state level, said AFT President Randi Weingarten. In states like Iowa and Arkansas, looser labor laws are putting children at risk. Weingarten added that school vouchers, which erode compulsory school structure and make it easier to put children to work rather than send them to school, are only making things worse. “There is a whittling down of the basic rights for kids to be in school,” she said.

In addition to fighting detrimental state legislation, Weil supports the Children Harmed in Life-Threatening or Dangerous (CHILD) Labor Act, a federal proposal that would “appreciably increase” penalties associated with violations and consider criminal penalties as well. He also suggests putting pressure on legislators to fund the agencies that regulate violations, so investigators can do their work.

“We need to identify the corporate greed that is motivating the exploitation of children,” said Wong, who sees a nationally coordinated effort to roll back child labor protection. “We need to work together to address how to proactively defend the rights of our children [in the policy arena].”

[Virginia Myers]