Child labor violations across the U.S. are rising as lawmakers have been rolling back state child labor protections. The U.S. is at a legislative crossroads. Will we finally see a reversal in moves to weaken regulations or must more children be injured or killed in workplaces across the U.S. as efforts to undermine protections continue to be pursued?  

A recent article in The Guardian details a new report providing a blueprint for stronger workplace laws for children. Underlining the current rise in injuries of children on the job and child labor violations, report authors say it has never been more urgent to strengthen, not weaken child labor protections. 

Injuries up and protections down 

In over 30 states in the U.S., legislators have been steadily weakening child labor protections citing labor shortages. Happening side by side are some shocking statistics that should be raising alarm bells to these legislators.  

Between 2011 and 2020 the rate of injury for child workers (under the age of 18) nearly doubled. Child labor violations across the board quadrupled between 2015 and 2022. And hazard occupation violations for child workers more than doubled for the same period.  

Reid Maki, director of child labor advocacy and coordinator at the Child Labor Coalition who is one of the organizations that contributed to the report said: 

“We need to look for ways to make work safer for kids and not expose them to unnecessary hazards. We’re particularly concerned about the idea that tobacco has never been added to the list of hazardous occupations, and we know that kids in the US are farming tobacco, are harvesting tobacco, and they’re getting sick while doing it.” 

The report claims the rising rates of child labor violations, injuries and chronic school absenteeism should act as sufficient motivation for the incoming administration to adopt the report’s recommendations. The report also notes that the rollbacks happening at the state level often conflict with federal law. 

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