Stateline
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In the past two years, lawmakers in at least 11 states have sought to loosen child labor laws to help employers fill empty jobs, even as federal officials and news investigations suggest that many minors working in manufacturing, meatpacking and construction jobs are being exploited or hurt.
The unemployment rate sits at 3.5% — a level last reached in 1969 — and businesses of all types, from factories to restaurants to retail stores, are struggling to find workers.
Some state legislators, mostly Republicans, see teenagers as a partial solution. They also argue that relaxing the rules will prompt more teens to seek out valuable work experiences and make it easier for them to supplement their families’ incomes.
But critics say the bills, backed by business groups, are an attempt to roll back critical child labor protections that are nearly a century old.
“Do you remember the images of children in manufacturing and other dangerous work situations from the early 1900s?” Connie Ryan, executive director of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, asked lawmakers during a hearing on a bill there. “There is a reason our society said that it is not appropriate for children to work in those conditions.”
The legislation in Iowa would, for example, allow children as young as 14 to work in meat coolers and industrial laundries. In Ohio, Republican state senators last month approved a bill that would allow 14- and 15-year-olds to work until 9 p.m. during the school...
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