Child labor laws in some states may be weakened as US industries look to hire teens
US employers are recruiting teenaged workers to solve their difficulties in hiring and retaining workers, and some Republicans and industry groups are pushing for looser child labor laws to allow those industries to put teens to work for longer hours.
Businesses around the United States that have advertised hiring 14and 15-year-olds through the pandemic’s “labor shortage” include several restaurants in Pennsylvania, a Pumpkin Patch in Liberty, Missouri, a Burger King in Ohio, and a McDonald’s in Oregon. Employers such as Chipotle have expanded recruiting efforts this year to target younger workers.
Other restaurants and employers such as amusement parks and seasonal businessesaround the US have touted their reliance on teenage workers under 18 as a labor shortage solution. A restaurant in Arkansas, noting it had struggled to hire and retain workers, recently offered to pay its teen workers for one hour to do homework before their shift.
Teenage employment in the US surged to more than 32% in summer 2021, the highest level since 2008, and for the first time in history the unemployment rate for 16- to 19-year-olds fell below the rate for 20- to 24-year-olds.
In a recent op-ed for a local Pennsylvania newspaper, Darcy Leight, a junior in high school, argued the claims of labor shortages and staffing issues in the food service, recreation and tourism industry had driven teenagers to work more and longer hours past summer employment periods.
“A job I intended to work strictly during the summer has somehow found its way into my fall schedule and has become almost equivalent to academics on my priority list. And I don’t even know how it happened,” she wrote. “The coupling of a job anywhere from five to 35 hours a week along with being a student is extremely stressful.”
The labor shortage concerns have galvanized an effort by some elected officials – mostly Republicans – to scale back some child labor regulations.
Three Republicans and one Democrat in the Ohio state senate have recently introduced a bill to expand the hours minors under the age of 16 are permitted to work in the state, from 7pm to 9pm during the school year with a parent or guardian’s permission.
In Wisconsin, Republican state senators recently approved a bill, SB332, and sent it to the Wisconsin state assembly. The bill would expand permissible work hours for minors under the age of 16.
Supporters of the bill, which include Republican legislators, the Wisconsin
Restaurant Association and other industry groups, have argued the bill could help small businesses that are experiencing hiring and staff retention issues amid some industries experiencing labor shortages throughout 2021.
Under current law, minors are permitted to work from 7am to 7pm from labor day to 31 May and 7am to 9pm from 1 June to labor day.
The bill would expand those times and dates from 6am to 9.30pm on a day preceding a school day and 6am to 11pm on a day preceding a nonschool day, and expand weekly hours from three hours during a school week to 18 hours.
Wisconsin Republicans have successfully passed several bills in the last decade to weaken child labor laws, including in 2011 eliminating limits on the number of hours and days minors, ages 16 and 17, could work, eliminating work permits for 16 and 17-year-olds, and replacing all uses of the term “child labor” in state employment statutes with the term “employment of minors” in 2017.
“The passage of this bill would be a slippery slope for eliminating child labor practices in Wisconsin and in the United States in general,” said Stephanie Bloomingdale, president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, which opposes SB332. “Young teenagers need to have good work experiences that help them to learn work ethics and valuable skills, but at the same time, recognizing they also are kids that need time to study, to sleep and to prepare their minds for their future.”
Reports of labor shortages have received significant coverage throughout 2021, with employers and industry groups often blaming unemployment benefits for difficulties in finding enough workers, though ending unemployment benefits did not result in a mass influx of Americans returning to work. Several solutions that employers have turned to amid labor shortage concerns through 2021 include prison labor, recently released prisoners and
immigrant visa programs.
Labor groups and workers have characterized the labor issues as a result of low wages, Covid-19 safety concerns, rampant poor working conditions and a lack of childcare and paid sick leave throughout the US.
“The notion that we would be solving some economic turmoil by allowing the expansion of child labor hours, is at best, ridiculous, and at worst, very detrimental to young people,” said Debra Cronmiller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin.
Scientific research has shown working long hours while attending high school can have negative academic and behavioral impacts on teenagers.
Dr Kathryn C Monahan, a psychologist who researched the impact of work on adolescents while at the University of Washington, explained much of the research on adolescent employment has focused on formal types of employment that generally occurs at age 16 and above.
“What this bill does, I think, is it opens up and it encourages young teens to enter into that workforce,” said Monahan.
She noted a lack of scientific research on how work affects teens this young, and what impact earning income at such a young age may have on other negative behaviors, such as dropping out of high school and substance abuse.
“The second thing that concerns me about this is the sleep issue,” Monahan added. “I can imagine the kid getting home later on a school night … because that’s when that child uses that time for homework, for catching up with friends, and so you’re going to get an even further delay out in terms of sleep, while school is going to stay constant in terms of those really early wake up times.”
They also kids that need time to study, to sleep and to prepare their minds for their future
Stephanie Bloomingdale