Ruthless Exploitation of Child Labor, US Regressing to the Late 19th Century

The New York Times reported recently that an Arkansas law took effect a few days ago allowing 14 and 15-year-olds to work without the written consent of their parents. Iowa, New Hampshire and New Jersey have also introduced bills to weaken child labor protections.

This troubling trend in American society is attracting an increasing amount of attention. “You might think that in the face of this mounting problem, lawmakers across the country would rush to protect these children. You’d be wrong,” Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported. The data show that the number of children employed in the U.S. in violation of federal child labor laws increased by 37% last year, 283% more than in 2015. In the past two years, 14 states have introduced or enacted laws to relax restrictions on working hours for child laborers, lower the age limit for hiring minors, and legalize wages for minors that fall below the minimum wage.

In the 21st century, why is the U.S.—the world’s No. 1 power—still exploiting child labor? Some American politicians reason that working keeps children away from computers, video games and television and fosters both a work ethic and vocational skills—and when it comes to children from poor backgrounds, working at an earlier age is an opportunity. These political leaders say the use of child labor has many advantages and no disadvantages. But what is the truth? In July, The Nation reported that the COVID-19 pandemic caused labor shortages in the U.S., while according to The Washington Post in April, hiring child labor allowed employers to keep wages low while maintaining a workforce given the labor shortages in the U.S. market.

Remove the political whitewashing and the true state of child labor in the U.S. is bleak. The Guardian reported in February that the U.S. found that a slaughterhouse cleaning company had illegally employed more than 100 minors aged 13 to 17 from across the U.S. Not only had they been required to work night shifts, but they had also been exposed to hazardous chemicals used to clean meat processing equipment including back saws, brisket saws, and guillotines, and at least three minors were injured on the job. Among them, a 14-year-old was forced to work five to six days a week, from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., and he not only dozed off in class, but also missed school due to chemical burns.

The situation of immigrant children is of particular concern with respect to American child labor, as it involves a large group that has long lacked attention and protection. The New York Times reported in February that a large number of unaccompanied minors come to the U.S. and work in some of the country’s most miserable jobs and in terrible conditions. In the food industry, child laborers are exposed to dust and dangerous conveyor belts, and on construction sites, children have broken their backs and had their hands burned by hot tar while laying roof tiles. Further, the U.S. government has turned a blind eye to the fact that companies employing these children, including some of the largest corporations, have deliberately ignored the fact that child laborers are being employed, and schools have been reluctant to report child labor violations inflicted on students.

The U.S. government’s indifference has also created opportunities for human trafficking. Take, for example, Nery Cutzal, a Guatemalan child who was tricked into going to the United States when he was 13. Nery came from a poor family, and someone contacted him on Facebook, persuading him to go to the U.S. to work and subsidize his family, and promising that he would be able to go to school and be taken care of. But when he arrived in the U.S., he discovered that he had been thoroughly scammed The person who had asked him to come to the U.S. demanded $4,000 for help with paperwork and food, threatening that he would have to work to pay off his debts and find his own place to live. The child was eventually rescued, but he was one of the lucky few. In the past decade, federal prosecutors have prosecuted only about 30 cases involving forced labor of minors. Then there was Juanito Ferrer, a 15-year-old who was forced to paint houses during the day and guard apartment buildings at night. His pay was docked, and he slept in a basement where he was monitored by close surveillance camera. When he called the police, no one came to check on him, and ultimately, he was lucky enough to escape.

There are also intermediaries in the U.S. that facilitate child labor in business. In April, Reuters reported that an immigrant from Mexico who had just turned 16 was discovered carrying heavy loads by hand in an automobile factory, and he held the identify papers of a 34-year-old man. In addition, his file contained other crudely forged documents, and he had been working under false identification papers since the age of 14. Experts say that U.S. law enables major companies to shirk responsibility and use intermediaries for protection, making it difficult to enforce child labor protection laws when employers provide false documents, even if they are clearly forged. The Mexican minor, for example, passed through the a multilevel employment service filter.

While the unsavory track record of such child labor is at least considered illegal, there is an exception to the rule in the U.S.: American farms can legally make use of child often without any age limit. The reasoning is just as lofty. Traditionally, there is nothing wrong with having children help out on family farms as a way of familiarizing them early on with the work and life of a farmer. But the reality is that children are performing extraordinarily difficult tasks in the fields, and they are getting hurt as a result.

National Public Radio reported in June that children are generally prohibited from doing hazardous work in industries apart from agriculture. There, children from the age of 16 may operate heavy machinery and work at any height on the farm without any protection from falling. Vox reported in June that about Jacqueline Aguilar, who had worked from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. six to seven days a week in the fields since she was 11, earning $10 an hour. The work was exhausting, her feet hurt all the time, and her hands developed blisters from using the hoe, Aguilar said. She wore a headscarf and long-sleeved clothes to prevent sunburn. She could not eat at lunchtime, and her employer did not provide her with clean water, so she had to work without eating or drinking. Under U.S. law, intense labor like this would have been legal when Aguilar turned 12 in many states where children that young can pick tobacco and milk 1,500-pound cows. In fact, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identify farm work as one of the most dangerous industries, and the American Federation of Teachers has published an article stating that there are approximately 500,000 child farm workers in the U.S. Many of these children have been working since they were 8 years old, and it is not uncommon for them to work 72 hours a week. They are at a greatly increased risk of cancer due to their frequent exposure to pesticides. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that children are three times more sensitive than adults to the carcinogenic effects of pesticides. Working conditions on farms are so harsh that a Government Accountability Office report showed that 100,000 child farm workers are injured on the job each year, with children accounting for 20% of agricultural deaths.

The Guardian observed that the U.S. is currently allowing the return of a brutal form of capitalism, a kind of social Darwinism, in which business lobbies and lawmakers argue that they are not exploiting the underprivileged, but rather providing opportunities for those who need to work so that they do not go hungry or become homeless. On the one hand, they claim that they cannot provide these children with more protection, such as a safe place to live and adequate nutrition, but on the other hand, they say that the government “can easily afford” to subsidize businesses, and that “businesses need and deserve” such subsidies. The U.S. appears to be regressing to the late 19th century, when laborers and young children were treated like muck, and robber barons reigned supreme.

For a long time now, the U.S. has been the only member of the United Nations that has not ratified the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, and now that the problem of child labor in the U.S. is worsening, rather than strengthening legislative protections, standards have been further relaxed. How can the U.S. talk about human rights when it uses the flesh and bones of children to generate profit?