In the 18th century, many American families saw new children as future workers who would guarantee the household's livelihood when their parents no longer had the physical capacity to work. At the age of five, children helped with agricultural and domestic work. Very large families often could not find jobs for their children and sent them to families that could place them as domestic workers, servants or farmers. The 9th Census of the United States, in 1870, counted 1 in 8 children as employees. Thirty years later, in 1900, the number rose to 1 in 5 children.

One of the founding fathers of the United States, Alexander Hamilton, noted in a 1791 report when he was Secretary of the Treasury that children would be cheap labor and if they did not contribute to the work, they would be idle. After the Civil War, the number of child laborers would increase even more. “Free-labor” was not very clear when it came to newly freed children, and in many cases the children were re-enslaved through apprenticeship agreements that tied the children to their former masters.

In 1873, The New York Times stated that “the world has given up stealing men from the African coast, just to kidnap children from Italy”. In fact, the labor of migrant children, such as Italian children, had become common and highly practiced. The operations of the Italian “padrones” - people who guaranteed jobs, especially for Italian immigrants - used child slave labor with the justification of guaranteeing learning, as we noted previously. Children who did not comply with agreements were often beaten. From the beginning, migrant children have been the main targets of child labor analogous to slavery.

After the Great Depression, the number of children in such conditions begins to decline. With the reduction in available jobs, adults, especially men, needed to take on positions that previously belonged to children. Later, industrial machines and technologies became more complex and became more inaccessible to children. In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed and, legally, child labor was no longer permitted.

This leads us to think that child labor, especially that analogous to slavery, ended in the 20th century. Many would be frightened by stories of children being forced to work in heavy jobs and losing their childhoods. However, according to the International Labor Organization, in 2017 it was estimated that 152 million children worked all over the world. According to CNN, between October 1, 2022 and July 20, 2023, the United States Department of Labor found 4,474 children employed in situations that violate federal child labor laws.

Migrant children and child labor in the United States

“Cristian works in construction instead of going to school. He is 14 years old". This is the beginning of a report from The New York Times titled “Alone and Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across the U.S.” A high number of unaccompanied children began to enter the country and, in desperation, they ended up in the worst jobs. An investigation by this newspaper reported arduous and illegal situations in which children and teenagers find themselves, “underage workers in slaughterhouses in Delaware, Mississippi and North Carolina. Children sawing wooden boards on night shifts in South Dakota.”

In 2022, the number of unaccompanied children and adolescents entering the country rose to 130 thousand. Three times the number presented five years earlier. Far from home, without family support, without money and food, children accept any opportunities that appear that can provide them with basic survival. Thus, many take advantage of this to obtain cheap and innocent labor. Furthermore, some children send part of their earnings to family members who remain in the country of origin.

Another factor that is contributing to an unprecedented number of children ending up in deplorable situations is the lack of vigilance and oversight by the North American government regarding these cases. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is mandated to find homes for minors who cross the border unaccompanied. They are sent to the homes of sponsors - family members, friends or acquaintances of the families - and they need to fulfill some obligations, such as sending the children to school.

However, some reports claim that the government is failing to match children with sponsors and to properly track children after sending them to new homes. The allegations were made by federal employees assigned to work at an emergency site in Fort Bliss, Texas and presented to the Department of Health and Human Services and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin.

In another report from The New YorkTimes, they report on Mrs. Brandmiller's experience. Her role was to evaluate sponsors and she had been trained to identify possible cases of trafficking. As the newspaper reports, in Brandmiller's first week of work, she identified two suspected cases. The first was from a man who sponsored three boys and put them to work at his construction company. The second wanted to sponsor two children, however, they would have to pay for the trip to Florida, where he lived. She immediately contacted supervisors at the Department of Health and Human Services via email, notifying them that it was an urgent matter. Days later, she discovered that one of the children would be handed over to the Florida sponsor and sent another email about the situation and added that a 14-year-old child had already been handed over to the same man. Finally, she emailed the shelter manager. After that, her access to the building was revoked and she never found out why she was fired.

Law changes that make child labor easier in the US

By dehumanizing migrant people, the US government pushes children into forced, cruel and dangerous labor. One can imagine that, with so many warnings, the legislature and the executive will seek to improve laws to prevent these occurrences from becoming everyday. However, this is not what American society has witnessed. Since 2022, 15 states have enacted new laws regarding child labor. Of these, only 5 states have enacted laws that strengthen protection against child labor, another 9 have weakened their legislation and one has enacted laws that increase protection and others that weaken it. Furthermore, there are 43 bills in various states across the country on the subject, many aimed at weakening the agenda.

As The Washington Post states, most states have much stricter laws than federal laws on the subject. However, there is an effort by Republican lawmakers, restaurant, liquor and home builder associations to weaken these laws and allow younger people to be employed. After the pandemic, these sectors were affected by the supply of labor and saw young people and pre-teens as an opportunity to replace them at a low cost.

In New Hampshire, new legislation allows youth as young as 14 to serve alcoholic beverages. The previous rule, which was already less restricted in relation to other states, allowed service to be carried out from the age of 15. The bill was supported by New Hampshire Lodging and Restaurant Association and the State Liquor Commission. In Arkansas, the new “Youth Labor Shortage Law” eliminated the requirement of work authorization - a requirement for proof of age, parental permission and employer signature - for 14 and 15 year olds. In that same state, a federal investigation found 10 children working illegally for a company that cleans dangerous meat processing equipment.

The action of conservatives and billionaires has been especially relevant in attacking laws that protect children from child labor. The main bills weakening such laws were introduced by members of the Republican Party. Furthermore, billionaire conservatives, such as the Kosh family - controllers of Kosh Industries - finance the reduction of restrictions on child labor. In 2019, for example, an academiclinked to the Commonwealth Foundation, funded by Kosh Industries, defended the end of the minimum wage for teenagers in a publication in Forbes magazine.

A Florida-based conservative Think Tank, Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), has sponsored several bills that relax child labor laws in several states. Iowa, Florida, Arkansas, Missouri and many other states have projects supported by this conservative group that enchants Republican politicians, according to The Washington Post. The FGA is funded by several ultraconservative and Republican donors, such as the Ed Uihlein Family Foundation, a philanthropic organization owned by billionaire Richard Uihlein, and the 85 Fund, a conservative organization of anonymous donors that aims to influence the American judicial and political system.

Child labor, fought during part of the 20th century, is growing exponentially today and has no prospect of falling. Associated with the slow job market in the post-pandemic world and the record number of unaccompanied migrant children, the number of teenagers in dangerous and abusive jobs is likely to increase. With this in mind, ultraconservative and republican groups take the opportunity to defend the need to include children and adolescents in the job market, relaxing legislation that defends the interests of this minority group. The prospect is a growing exploitation of child labor, with few restrictions and labor rights.