Across the US help wanted
signs still fill the windows of shops,
restaurants and factories. Even with the
unemployment rate hitting a 50 year low. Challenger Gray predicts
teens will gain 1.1 million jobs in 2023. That's lower than last
year. It's also the lowest
level in more than a decade. Teens are also
working at pre-pandemic levels, indicating that
those who want to work already are, which means
tough competition for employers, small. Businesses, stores,
restaurants and seasonal businesses like ice cream
shops are having trouble filling low level
positions, positions that would typically be filled
by teen workers. Now, a handful of state
governments across the US are trying to stimulate
youth employment by rolling back child labor
laws. But at the same time,
child labor law violations have been on an uptick
from 2017 through 2021. The Department of Labor
identified more than 4000 cases, finding more than
13,000 minor aged workers employed in violation. And since 2016, it has
assessed more than $21 million in fines to
companies. This prompted the Biden
administration to announce it would ramp up its
investigation into companies violating child
labor laws. This is leading to the
central conflict in the attempt to reinvigorate
the youth labor force, a conflict between state
lawmakers who want to peel back child labor laws and
those who think those moves will lead to more
exploitation of younger workers. In the America of the
1800s, it was common to see children toiling in
factories, farms and other workplaces. Families saw
children as beneficial labor. Kids as young as
five helped around the farm work environments
deemed hazardous for children By today's
standards, like mines, mills and factories have
positions full of teenagers. The poverty was the prime
reason that children in the US often worked in
places like factories. And as the country
prospered and averaged per capita income rose,
parents were able to support their families on
their own without relying on their children's
wages. The 1870 census found that
one out of every eight children was employed. This rate increased to
more than 1 in 5 children by 1900. Between 1890 and 1910,
fewer than 18% of all children ages 10 to 15
worked. By the turn of the 20th
century, reform efforts became widespread. As attitudes to child
labor changed, with reformers citing that the
long hours of premature toil and the deprivation
of education caused a litany of health
problems. The federal government did
pass the Fair Labor Standards Act, which did
regulate and prohibit oppressive child labor. It was largely seen as
symbolic at the time because for quite a long
time there was reliance on both federal and state
law to protect children. The Department of Labor
has tracked violations of these standards since
1938, and a renewed focus on these violations has
found many companies under investigation. What we might be seeing is
just the revealing of violations that have been
happening all along. We're just becoming more
aware of them. I think loosening youth
employment regulations will lead to a decline in
violations. These fines that we're
seeing some employers get hit with because a lot of
these violations are really minor violations,
often having to do with a teen working perhaps a
little bit longer than they should be under the
law. But some major companies
are being fined for more grievous violations. Some of the more egregious
settings, whether it's manufacturers, assembly
lines, factories, meatpacking plants, those
are some of the places where some serious
injuries can occur. Bauer Food LLC, a
Louisville based operator of a handful of
McDonald's, was found to have 210 year olds
working the register, cleaning, preparing food
and using a deep fryer, all without pay and in a
direct violation of child labor laws. Other popular
eateries like Zaxby's and Dunkin Donuts are also
found to be in violation of allowing minors to use
ovens or deep fryers to make food which is deemed
hazardous by FLSA regulations. In response
to that specific incident, McDonald's chief People
officer told CNBC that reports were, quote,
unacceptable, deeply troubling and run afoul
of the high expectations we have for the entire
McDonald's brand. Cnbc also asked Zaxby's
to respond to that specific incident, and a
spokesperson said that while allowing younger
team members to gain valuable work experience,
such work must not risk their safety or interfere
with their education. Dunkin Donuts and Walnut
Creek Lumber have not responded to CNBC's
request for comment. Violations like these
have reignited the fight between supporters of
stronger child labor laws and opposition to its
strictness. Despite the ongoing
battle, government ran, youth employment programs
are seeing strong demand for opportunities. The CD runs the largest
youth employment program in the country. We employ
over 100,000 young people in a six week program
with our corporate partners. Sl Green, a real estate
investment trust located in the heart of New York
City Partners. With the program. We have people that work
within guest experience, operations, marketing,
forward facing roles in which give people the
chance to interact with the public, but more
importantly, it gives them a chance to really hone
in on interest that they have explained to us. Eliza Kristy Psaki
participated in the program last year when he
was 19 and was offered a full time role. This really, truly
motivates and inspires me being just being able to. Being able to go up to
the top every day you work, being able to see
the magnificent view in the morning, it really
does motivate me. He is a perfect example of
what we embrace most within this program. Here's a young man that
came in that had an interest and had a
passion, but wasn't necessarily sure where he
wanted to take that energy. And in working
with the different individuals we have from
all the different leadership groups,
including the mentorship programs that we put in
place, we were able to help him uncover what
some of those interests could ultimately lead to. Right now, I'm doing a
marketing internship with Summit. So the next step
after this is to get a full time position as a
marketer. Gop lawmakers want to
reignite youth worker participation in the
labor market like Dicd has done with Eli, and to
meet that in several states have unveiled laws
to loosen child labor restrictions. Grotto, Pizza's director
of human resources, Glenn Byrum, said hiring teens
has been challenging due to competition. Teens these days seem to
be much more cognizant of of the flexibility in
their jobs, how much they're going to get
paid, the work environment itself. They you know,
they do have a certain element of, I think,
power in their minds where if they don't like
something that, you know, us as an employer is
asking them to do, even though it's part of the
job, you know, they can easily go down the street
and work somewhere else. At least ten states have
introduced or passed laws rolling back child labor. I think we can alleviate
labor shortages not only through reducing some of
these strict regulations on teen employment, but
also by encouraging immigration and opening
our borders to newcomers. I think it's a both and
situation of encouraging immigration and reducing
barriers to teen employment. Children should not be the
ones responsible for keeping industries afloat
when there are worker shortages or where
employers are trying to cut costs by hiring
employees that are less likely to advocate for
fair wages or better working conditions. Advocates for stronger
child labor laws argue that loosening
restrictions creates a slippery slope toward
greater exploitation of not only American kids,
but also immigrants and often exploited group in
the country's workforce. These are some of the
migrant children federal officials found illegally
working in a slaughterhouse, raising
questions about child labor in America. Minors as young as 14
working inside industrial freezers and meat
coolers. Just one of the latest
proposals by a state legislature flirting with
the idea of relaxing child workplace protections. I think we have to be
concerned about the cycle of poverty that is
exacerbated if children are required to work at
young ages and in jobs that are not good for
their health and for ours that interrupt their
education. We of course, have long
standing laws against child abuse and against
forced labor. So adding on youth
employment regulations I think is really overkill
and does more to prevent teen workers who want to
work their first job than it does in encouraging
any kind of exploitation. We need to shore up the
capacity of the Department of Labor to engage in
investigations. They need resources to be
able to enforce the federal law. There's an
opportunity to strengthen federal law so that the
penalties that are levied against employers who are
violating child labor laws are more significant
right now. The penalty for a child
labor law violation is about $15,000 per child. That is simply not enough
in a lot of cases to disincentivize an
employer from violating the law. We need
employers to see that it is going to affect their
bottom line rather than just, you know, having it
be the cost of doing business to violate the
law. Polling suggests that most
Americans are favorable to teens working and that
believe that those those characteristics and those
qualities that teens develop while working a
first job can really serve them well. If it's
something that's interesting to them. And we should just make
it easier for them to do so.
