By John A. Fliter and Betsy Wood
A movement to weaken American child labor protections at the state level began in 2022. By June 2023, Arkansas, Iowa, New Jersey and New Hampshire had enacted this kind of legislation, and lawmakers in at least another eight states had introduced similar measures.
The laws generally make it easier for kids from 14 to 17 years old to work longer and later – and in occupations that were previously off-limits for minors.
When Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed her state’s new, more permissive child labor law on May 26, 2023, the Republican leader said the measure would “allow young adults to develop their skills in the workforce.”
As scholars of child labor, we find the arguments Reynolds and other like-minded politicians are using today to justify undoing child labor protections echo older justifications made decades ago.
Many conservatives and business leaders have long argued, based on a combination of ideological and economic grounds, that federal child labor rules aren’t necessary. Some object to the government determining who can’t work. Cultural conservatives say working has moral value for young people and that parents should make decisions for their children. Many conservatives also say that teens, fewer of whom are in the workforce today than in past decades, could help fill empty jobs in tight labor markets.
Opponents of child labor observe that when kids under 18 work long hours or do strenuous jobs, it can disrupt childhood development, interfere with their schooling and deprive them of the sleep they need. Expanding child labor can encourage kids to drop out of school and jeopardize young people’s health through injuries and work-related illnesses.
Long-brewing battle
Child labor protections, such as making many kinds of employment for children under 14 illegal and restricting the hours that teens under 18 can spend working, are guaranteed by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. U.S. law also does not treat 16- and 17-year-olds as adults. The federal government deems many occupations to be too hazardous for anyone under 18.
Until that law took effect, the lack of a federal standard always obstructed progress in the states toward keeping kids in school and out of mines, factories and other sometimes hazardous workplaces.
Three years after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld it in the U.S. v. Darby Lumber ruling, which toppled a related precedent.
Challenges began during the Reagan administration
There were no significant efforts to challenge child labor laws for the next four decades. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan sought to ease federal protections to allow 14- and 15-year-olds to work longer hours in fast-food and retail establishments and to pay young workers less than the minimum wage. A coalition of Democrats, labor unions, teachers, parents and child development groups blocked the proposed changes.
By the late 1980s, child labor violations were on the rise. Some industry groups tried to loosen restrictions in the 1990s, but legal changes were minimal.
A more ambitious attempt to roll back child labor laws in the early 2000s, led by a homeschooling group, ultimately failed, but conservatives continued to call for similar changes.
When former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was vying to become a 2012 Republican presidential nominee, he made headlines by calling child labor laws “truly stupid.” He suggested kids could work as janitors in schools.
Today, the Foundation for Government Accountability, a Florida-based think tank, is drafting state legislation to strip child labor protections, The Washington Post has reported. Its lobbying arm, the Opportunity Solutions Project, has been helping push these bills through state legislatures, including in Arkansas and Missouri.
Hine/Library of Congress/Interim Archives/Getty Image
Iowa and Arkansas
In our view, Iowa has the most radical new law designed to roll back child labor protections. It allows children as young as 14 to work in meat coolers and industrial laundries, and teens 15 and older can work on assembly lines around dangerous machinery.
Teens as young as 16 can now serve alcohol in Iowa restaurants, as long as two adults are present.
U.S. Labor Department officials argue that several provisions of Iowa’s new law violate national child labor standards. However, the department has not disclosed a clear strategy for combating such violations.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed her state’s Youth Hiring Act of 2023 in March. It eliminated work permits for 14- and 15-year-olds.
Previously, employers had to keep a work certificate on file that required proof of age, a description of the work and schedule – and the written consent of a parent or guardian.
Arkansas has scrapped those safeguards against child labor exploitation. We find it puzzling that supporters touted the bill as enhancing parental rights because the law removes any formal role for parents in balancing their kids’ education and employment.
Federal vs. state laws
You may wonder how states can undermine federal child labor laws. Doesn’t federal law preempt state laws?
Both federal and state laws govern the employment of minors, and all states have compulsory school attendance laws. Federal laws set a floor of regulations in youth employment that cover maximum hours, minimum ages, wages and protections from hazardous jobs.
If states pass tougher laws, as many have, the stricter standards govern workplace practices. School attendance requirements vary by state, but once someone turns 18, they’re no longer covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act’s restrictions.
Federal law, for example, does not require minors to obtain work permits or employment certificates, but most states mandate such documentation.
With the exception of New Jersey, these efforts to weaken child labor laws are being led by Republicans.
To be sure, some states are still attempting to strengthen child labor protections.
Democrats in Colorado introduced a bill that would allow injured children to sue employers for child labor violations. Gov. Jared Polis signed it into law on June 7, 2023.
Having child labor laws on the books at both the federal and state levels is only half the battle. Enforcement is another matter. Many violations in recent years have involved children who immigrated to the United States without their parents, only to wind up working long hours, sometimes in dangerous jobs, at young ages.
Construction sites?
Other states are trying to weaken protections. Ohio state lawmakers want to allow 14- and 15-year-olds to work until 9 p.m. during the school year with their parents’ permission, even though federal regulations don’t allow teens that age to work past 7 p.m.
Some states are considering legislation that directly conflicts with federal child labor standards on hazardous occupations. For example, a bill Republican Minnesota state Sen. Rich Draheim introduced would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to work in or around construction sites.
Strong opposition from politicians, child advocacy groups, education associations, labor unions and the public has defeated some of these efforts.
Georgia Republicans introduced a bill that would have eliminated work permits for minors, but they withdrew it without a vote. And Republican lawmakers in South Dakota sponsored a bill to extend working hours for children 14 and under from 7 p.m. to 9 pm. It was withdrawn as well.
In Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a bill in 2022 that would have let teens work longer and later. In 2023, some Wisconsin lawmakers are trying again. They want to let 14-year-olds serve alcohol.
Taking aim at federal rules
There are some national efforts to weaken – or strengthen – child labor rules as well.
Rep. Dusty Johnson, a South Dakota Republican, seeks to revise federal regulations to permit 14- and 15-year-olds to work until 9 p.m. on school nights and up to 24 hours per week during the school year. We don’t expect his bill to pass in today’s divided Congress.
There’s also a push in the House and the Senate to let 16- and 17-year-olds work in logging operations with parental supervision.
And yet there’s also support in Congress to increase penalties for child labor violations. Currently, the maximum such fine is $15,138 per child. Pending bills in the House and Senate would increase the penalty to nearly 10 times that amount if enacted.
And several Democrats have introduced measures to strengthen federal child labor restrictions, especially in agriculture.
With so many states seeking weaker child labor protections, we believe a federal-state showdown over the question of whether young people in the United States belong in the workforce is inevitable.
John A. Fliter is Associate Professor of Political Science at Kansas State University. Betsy Wood is Assistant Professor of American History at Bard College.
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Pogo says
@Ward, the Beaver wants you to tell him about the good old days — again.
https://www.google.com/search?q=child+labor+in+southern+textile+mills
Deborah Coffey says
New Jersey is surprising. But, Republicans still favor and love slavery. They want it back. And, they want to keep the populace uneducated so they can completely control everyone in the autocracy they are striving for. Why do Trumpers love him so much? Because they want the same thing he does…complete control of government with no democratic institutions whatsoever. Foolishly, they believe this will give them the happy, peaceful lives that they do not have now. Sad and scary.
Skibum says
Conservatives are seeking to allow 14 and 15 year olds to work later at night, around industrial laundries, on mechanized assembly lines an at construction sites? WTH are they drinking!? Here we go again… those who forget our history are doomed to repeat it. Not to mention the current educational learning deficiencies that so many school age teens are already trying to overcome due to the long, multi-year isolation period during the pandemic. Yes, that’s good republicons – they don’t need no stinking education. Just make them work longer in your factories and businesses so you can make more money. Bravo.
Ray W. says
Hello Skibum.
I have commented about most of this before.
In 1971, a Shores restaurateur passed away. His very profitable business stayed open throughout that summer, run by the attorney who handled the probate matter as the representative of the estate. After Labor Day, the attorney closed the restaurant; he told the employees they could take home whatever was left in the walk-ins. I took a couple of frozen Key Lime pies. I remember one of my older brothers getting a box of frozen scallops. A short time later, a Greek family bought the restaurant and kept it open for many more years. I know those owners’ daughter, who grew up just down the road from my home. She is related to my stepmother, and I see her at family functions from time to time and also at the Greek Festival, where I volunteer to work in the main kitchen every year.
During that summer of ’71, both of my older brothers worked in the kitchen as prep cooks, starting in the early afternoons and working until late at night. I had a paper route at a time when the News-Journal was publishing 12 editions per week. When I finished the Monday-Friday afternoon deliveries, I either rode my bike to the restaurant or my mother drove me, depending on circumstance. I worked as a busboy. On weekends, I worked longer shifts at the restaurant. My older brothers would ride home with me late at night or my mother would pick us all up. I was 14 that summer. I was paid $1 per hour, even though the minimum wage was $1.50 per hour. I thought I was living in high cotton. I often earned more than $30 per week at the restaurant and another $30 or more, depending on tips, from my paper route.
One of my younger brothers, 12 years old at the time, worked at a Steak & Shake next to the Boardwalk. The owner would pick him up in the morning and bring him home after midnight. That brother would sometimes tell of breaking 80 hours the previous week. They put a milk crate on the floor for him to stand on so he could reach across the grill. Flipping burgers for 12 or 14 hours straight didn’t seem to bother him.
All of us were working well over 40 hours per week that summer. I don’t think any of us were being paid minimum wage, though I was clearing minimum wage with my paper route. I am not even sure I knew of the concept of overtime pay, though I never broke forty hours at the restaurant: I couldn’t get there early enough to hit that mark.
The main occupational hazard for me was the older waitresses, who on occasion would make crude and raucous remarks to me in front of other waitresses, just to watch me blush. They would laugh and laugh as I turned red-faced. There ought to be at least one upstanding Republican state congressman who is willing to sponsor a law against that. Let’s fire any waitress who tells a crude joke to a young boy and subject them to felonies. It might drive a few waitresses into the teaching profession. Goodness knows, we sure could use more teachers around here.
I know! I know! I am still trying to develop my snark skills.
For Real says
If it weren’t for her Father she would not be governor.
Laurel says
Aha! Now I know why Republicans don’t want abortions or contraceptives, they want the labor they will need while they are budgeting to fly immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard. Somebody has to fill the jobs that most Americans don’t want. I bet rich kids won’t need to learn that same work ethic that Republicans claim child abuse will build. Let them be born into poverty, dumb ’em down, put the fear of God in them, and put them in the fields and slaughter houses.
There are reasons for laws and regulations, folks.
Notice that in the article’s picture that all the adults are smiling and all the kids are not? I hope Flagler Live allows me to say that I think that S.H. Sanders continuously proves herself as a piece of shit. Nasty, nasty, nasty!
So, are y’all going to continue to vote Republican? Democrats, where the hell are you?
Sherry says
@ Laurel. . . You are so right! Like father, like daughter:
https://arktimes.com/news/cover-stories/2015/06/04/the-two-faces-of-mike-huckabee
Laurel says
Oh, and keep them too poor and too busy to fight back. Keep them overwhelmed and in their place.