Exploiting Kids Isn’t the Way to Fix the Labor Shortage
As states roll back child labor protections legal violations have soared.
Child labor laws exist for a reason.
Photographer: Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
School will be out soon, and for many teenagers that means it’s time to get a job. But there’s a new hitch: More teens will be recruited for adult jobs and work longer hours and in more dangerous conditions because several states have weakened their child labor laws.
It’s a brutal and short-sighted attempt to deal with one of the tightest labor markets on record, and it offers an ugly window into the inherent prejudices in the labor market. Rather than seek ways to encourage adults to take these jobs, legislators in mostly red states are loosening protections for workers easiest to exploit— young people.