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Let’s Get American Kids to Work (Safely)

Posted on Sunday, April 30, 2023
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by David P. Deavel
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AMAC Exclusive – By David P. Deavel

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Legislation concerning teens in the workplace has been proposed at both the state and federal levels this spring. Democrats are trying to portray themselves as the protectors of children and Republicans as the ones taking away their safety. While some of the legislation proposed by Democrats has a claim to partially making kids safer, the facts point to problems of their own making. On the other hand, the legislation being pushed mostly (but not exclusively) by Republicans that is being condemned in regime media outlets is actually much better for kids as a whole since it addresses the problem of their declining work experiences. American kids are under a lot of stresses these days—and the fact that they work less and less is probably a big part of the problem.

Senator Cory Booker introduced a bill called the Child Labor Exploitation and Accountability Act that would prevent companies that commit “serious, repeated, or pervasive” violations of labor law from getting contracts with the USDA for up to five  years. Given the USDA’s role in procuring food for school lunches, this would sting. The legislation comes on the heels of Democratic-led but bipartisan legislation sponsored in both the House and Senate last month that would increase penalties for companies in violation of child labor laws.

Putting companies’ feet to the fire on their hiring practices is eminently worth doing. The legislation was provoked by a number of reports of meatpacking companies and sanitation companies that were putting kids in dangerous jobs, sometime working overnight shifts in meatpacking plants. One major meatpacking company paid $1.5  million dollars in penalties last year for having minors “clean meat processing equipment including back saws, brisket saws and head splitters.” At least three of them were injured in doing this work that involves dangerous chemicals.

Yet if at the federal level the emphasis has been on the protection of minors, much state legislation has been geared at making it easier for teenagers to work in safe and age-appropriate jobs. Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed legislation last month that made it easier for teens to get jobs. The Youth Hiring Act of 2023 put an end to the demand for companies to get work permits for those under 16 years old. It has been represented as a Republican attack on children, but the reality is a bit different.

First, the concern about such loosening of restrictions reveals that the problems being worried about may have their origins in something other than the legislation at hand. A CNN article about Arkansas’s new law makes clear that the abuses might have contributing factors beyond working conditions. The article cites critics who say, “the work certificate served as a form of protection for vulnerable youth, especially immigrant youth, who may not always have a parent or guardian to sign off for them to work and who could be exploited without that certificate.”

In other words, companies might find it easier to exploit illegal immigrant children who have come here alone. This is the major worry expressed in many of the other articles about the federal legislation as well. Fair enough. But why are there so many unaccompanied minors? This comes down to the Biden Administration’s determined resistance to real enforcement of our border. It’s a resistance that effectively enables the trafficking of people over our southern border. Many of these people, especially children, are forced to find work to pay the coyotes who brought them.

In short, one way to address exploitation of children in workplaces is tougher enforcement of our border. It is significant, then, that the Florida senate passed a bill this week meant to deal with illegal immigration that mandates that companies use E-Verify to check the legal status of employees. Too many Democrats (and many Republicans) don’t want to deal with the condition that creates so many of the problems in the first place.

Second, though, it’s not just Republican states that are attempting to make it easier for teens to work. A long article by Ariana Figueroa at GPB about the trends at the state level shows that while Red States are certainly leading the way with bills in Ohio, Iowa, and Missouri, Democrats are often doing the same things. New Hampshire and New Jersey both passed laws in 2022 that increased the number of hours teens can work and lowered the ages for working. Deep blue Minnesota has introduced legislation this year that would permit 16 and 17-year-olds to work in construction. And the push to allow teens to work in the logging industry has been bipartisan as well.

These moves make a lot of sense. As Republican legislator Dusty Johnson said about his own proposals to allow South Dakotan 14- and 15-year-olds to work between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. for up to 24 hours per week, “If a high school student can play in a football game until 9 p.m., or play video games late into the evening, they should also be allowed to hold a job if they wish to.” While having high school students work overnight in a meatpacking plant using harsh chemicals to clean sharp blades is not wise, neither is limiting young people’s ability to get the experience of holding down jobs.

A 2019 CNBC article about the declining percentage of teens holding down jobs argued that when work interferes with attention to school, this can lead to worse outcomes over the long haul. But work (as with sports and other activities) need not interfere with attention to school, and even this article noted that those who don’t work “forgo an opportunity to learn valuable lessons about finance when they are young.” Not only that, but they also forgo the opportunity to gain a knowledge of how to comport themselves in the workplace: showing up on time and treating coworkers and customers well, working hard in tasks that might seem menial but are very important, and thinking on their feet. For many teens, a job builds both a strong work-ethic and independence.

Holding down jobs is good for almost all teenagers at least part of the time; some will benefit from more hours than others. While it’s important to stop companies from exploiting teens, especially illegal immigrants, it’s also important to get those teens the opportunity to start working earlier. These goals are clearly compatible. For many of us adults who have “made it” in the world of work, the lessons we learned from those first jobs were just as valuable as the ones we learned in school. We want to see the next generation learn those same lessons—and make a little money as they do it. Let’s make it easier for teens to learn them even as we make sure they do it safely.

David P. Deavel teaches at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, and is a Senior Contributor at The Imaginative Conservative.

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Kim
Kim
1 year ago

…I see this as yet more legislation that removes protections and makes it more permissible for adults to exploit children on every level…we are being lead to assume it is moral to abort, sexualy exploit, and enslave the most vulnerable of humanity.

Gregg
Gregg
1 year ago

Sports are great for adolescents to grow physically, emotionally, and spiritually. A part time, to a full time job in the afternoons, weekends and summer helps them to schedule better, and often raises their grades. Sports and jobs leaves no time for drug use, for poor associations/friends and less time for useless phone/app use. Win, win, win!

Michael J
Michael J
1 year ago

The hypocrisy of dems to be the protectors of some children while sanctioning the wholesale slaughter of the unborn ones. Unfortunately it’s that part of society that’s been convinced theirs is the only voice that matters.

PaulE
PaulE
1 year ago

Here are some facts NOT mentioned in this article that most people might be unaware of:

Most unaccompanied illegal minors entering this country are handed over to NGOs, paid by the federal government, or persons claiming to be a relative of the minor child which they are NOT. In both instances, what is happening is essentially child slave labor imported into this country under the Biden administration. These children, per a number of federal officials, end up working illegally in places like food processing plants or sweat shops around the country. In other instances, these children are pimped out by the government paid NGOs or supposed family members as sex slaves. So what we have here is the Democrats facilitating human trafficing on one hand and on the other hand pretending to be concerned about some of the horrendus working conditions many illegal minors have been found in. This aspect of the mass importation of millions upon millions of illegals into the country goes largely unreported, because it would open up yet another whole can of worms regarding the motivation Team Biden and the Democrats have for erasing our southern border.

Senator Booker, as usual, is merely grandstanding for the cameras as he and the Democrat Party have aspirations of elevating him to the office of President one day. He has been carefully positioned to be in the same mold as Obama his entire political career. Every political office he has held in his long political career has been one where he makes emotional pleas to the public, but delivers next to nothing in terms of positive results. So don’t be fooled by his sudden interest in child worker safety. It is just yet another means to get him some coverage in the media and advance his narrative of “a compassionate Democrat”.

As for the reference sources mentioned in the article of CNN and CNBC, both are little more than shills for the Democrat Party. You’ll notice that neither does any in-depth analysis of what certain conditions exists, because if they did that would alter the proposed causes they claim cause the problem. Again, it’s all about creating an emotional reaction from the public to advance yet another Democrat “solution” that is NOT grounded in reality. It’s the old Democrat trick of break something, then propose a fix that doesn’t really solve the problem, then when the public still complains offer up yet another proposed solution that still won’t fix the problem the Democrats created in the first place. Then simply repeat this porcess as many times as possible, while expanding Democrat control and enriching the major Democrat donors that keep the Democrats in power.

Sorry if any of this goes beyond the simplistic nature of the article. In order to properly address an issue, one has to fully understand all the various parts associated with the issue to resolve it properly.

David Millikan
David Millikan
1 year ago

Democrats and TikTok are the #1 serious threat to kids. Both destroy lives. Democrats promise the moon and Never deliver while blaming everybody else for their failed policies for the problems they created.
TikTok has kids do STUPID stunts such as getting themselves hurt and/or killed.
The faster kids wake up to this the better off they will be.
As for companies they must take responsibility to ensure that the kids know what they are doing at work since one day they could be full time employees which that company could benefit from while the kids benefit too.

Come and see
Come and see
1 year ago

This is why your kids are becoming Marxist republicans.
tney can’t read a banned book but they can lose a hand in the meat factory before they are 12.

anna hubert
anna hubert
1 year ago

First we allow slavers to bring little slaves and than we write articles bout it What rabbit hole are we in now

Stephen Russell
Stephen Russell
1 year ago

They need:
Mentors
Tutors
On the Job training
Testing
X training
Skills tests

MariaRose
MariaRose
1 year ago

With all the hoopla on working conditions based on assumed rights which are not guaranteed unless written in labor law, you would think making a law protecting children (under certain ages) from working in certain types of job conditions a priority. For certain types of jobs, any willing 14+ individual can work safely (with a work permit on file)as long as the employer is using them in those positions. E-verify should also be used for all jobs, especially the kinds of seasonal farm jobs. The problem lies with dishonest employers who exploit their workers in all ways –low wages, cash payrolls, with no IRS reporting.

Ed
Ed
1 year ago

Abusive parents are celebrating the idea of putting kids to work at 14. More money for them to steal.

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