Many minors in the USA go to work, and the rules for this have recently been relaxed in several states. One reason: There are hardly any adult applicants for some jobs. Consumer advocates fear for occupational safety.
“Our children are not for sale,” dozens of demonstrators chanted at the Iowa State House building. They are protesting against a new child labor law. The US state is located in the Midwest, has just around three million inhabitants and a big problem: too few new workers.
The state’s conservative government is therefore relying on minors to fill some gaps and has relaxed the rules. “We have young people who are out and about doing sports until 10 p.m. If they wanted to work, they were only allowed to do so for four hours a day,” says Republican Representative Dave Deyoe. “It just didn’t make sense that we had different rules for sports and work.”
Since July, for example, 14 and 15 year olds have been allowed to work until 9 p.m. after school and even until 11 p.m. during the holidays. The same working hours rules apply to 16 and 17 year olds as to adults. The service industry is particularly pleased about this.
56-year-old Stephani Jimmerson says there are hardly any adult applicants for positions at her ice cream parlor.
“I have a whole stack of applicants”
Stephani Jimmerson is currently scraping remnants of thawed ice from the freezer on her counter. The 56-year-old owns an ice cream parlor in the small town of Waukee. Up to 35 employees and temporary workers work for her, almost all of them are minors. Otherwise it wouldn’t work anymore, she says. There are hardly any adult applicants for service jobs anymore.
She wonders where all the people who used to work in the industry have gone since the pandemic. “The kids are doing a good job,” Jimmerson said. “I expect a lot from them and if they don’t want any more, I have a whole pile of other applicants that I had to reject. Then I’ll just find someone new.”
Up to 35 employees and temporary workers work in Stephani Jimmerson’s ice cream parlor, almost all of them are minors.
Jobs on construction sites are now also possible
Nevertheless, it is clear to the mother of three: school and leisure time should come first for the children. Most people here earn the equivalent of around 11.30 euros per hour, well above the minimum wage. Paying even more to attract more adult applicants is something she can’t afford as a small business, says Jimmerson.
The new rules apply not only to classic part-time jobs as students, but also to other industries. Young people in Iowa are now allowed to work in more dangerous jobs, such as on construction sites. This is a problem, says Charlie Wishman, head of the trade union federation: “Unfortunately, poor families, migrants and refugees in particular are affected much more than anyone else.” This is particularly the case in states with a lot of agriculture like Iowa. “Many migrant children from the south work here.”
The head of the trade union association, Charlie Wishman, sees children from poor families and refugees as being particularly affected.
Mia feels abandoned
There is also a lot of agriculture in the state of Colorado. The small town of Center is surrounded by potato and lettuce fields. Most of those who work harvesting here are migrants from Central and South America, including many minors like 17-year-old Mia. Last year she had a bad accident at work. A tractor driver overlooked the girl and ran over her. Due to her serious injuries, Mia could barely walk for months.
Mia feels abandoned by the company she worked for. “They didn’t report the accident at all. They just continued working after I was taken to the emergency room.” The company would have covered the medical costs, but otherwise they wanted to sweep the incident under the carpet. “That was very frustrating.”
Mia says the company didn’t want to pay her compensation. The government should do more to protect young workers from accidents and exploitation. She believes that many people don’t even think about the topic. “Especially when it comes to people like us from smaller towns. Nobody knows us. If it doesn’t affect anyone you know, most people think it’s not their problem.”
Suspicion falls on rich individuals
In the capital Washington, the national consumer protection organization NCL is concerned about the growing number of child labor in the country. She suspects there’s another reason besides the lack of workers why more and more states are relaxing their rules.
“There is a fear that this is part of a plan to undermine labor protections generally,” said Reid Maki, head of the child labor department. Behind this would be rich individuals and groups who didn’t like unions and didn’t want to pay higher salaries.
US media reports that a conservative think tank from Florida is behind this, which is lobbying politicians across the country for relaxed rules on child labor. Six of the 50 states have already done so. Others could follow.
Demand for more inspectors
At the federal level, the government of Democrat Joe Biden opposes such attempts. The NCL consumer advocates are now looking forward to the coming year when elections will be held in the USA.
“When Donald Trump was president, he tried to get rid of some rules, such as banning children from spraying pesticides in fields,” Maki explains. However, there was no support for this, whereupon the government at the time dropped this test balloon. “But if Trump is elected again and the Republicans do well in the general election, then he could try something like that again,” says the consumer advocate.
But the current government could do more, Maki believes. For example, hiring more inspectors for violations. According to the NCL, there is currently only one inspector per 200,000 employees.