If at the beginning of the last century children went with their parents to the mines, delivered newspapers or worked in slaughterhouses, today they are expected to stay in school and enjoy their time. However, in recent months, US Republicans have passed or proposed legislation that would lift employers’ restrictions on hiring minors. An Ohio politician said this is how we make “the leaders of tomorrow.”

In Romania, child employment is not yet a priority for politicians, as the labor force deficit is only 51,052 people, and the number of unemployed is four times higher. In the case of Americans, the situation is the opposite, because there are two jobs for every unemployed person, and the pressure on businesses to hire is great. If people refuse to work a little longer, a trend accelerated by the pandemic, then they start employing children.

American law is already more permissive than European law when it comes to the employment of minors

American law is already more lenient than European law when it comes to the employment of minors: the minimum age is 14, with certain restrictions on hours, travel and industry. American teenagers typically have a job at least during the summer, with nearly 33% of youth working, but the number of those under 16 is unknown.

Ten US states have enacted child labor laws to combat labor shortages (2 jobs available for every unemployed American). In Iowa, 14-year-olds will be able to work in slaughterhouses, industrial laundries and be near dangerous equipment. The argument advanced by Republicans in several states is to limit the government’s influence in deciding what is good or bad and leave that decision up to parents and children.

In recent years, the number of violations related to the employment of children has increased.

In recent years, the number of violations related to the employment of children has increased, in the last year alone they have increased by 37%. The US Department of Labor accuses McDonald’s, Dunkin Donuts and other large franchise restaurants of using minors on night shifts more than the law allows. In Alabama, a 16-year-old migrant from Mexico used a fake identity to work at a Hyundai assembly plant.

EPI’s Center for Progressive Economic Policy identifies a major problem in the integration of migrant children who arrive either illegally or illegally from Latin and Central America and end up working for survival. More than 300,000 underage workers work in agriculture, many of them migrant children who have no choice but to work:

“Until federal agencies address the issues surrounding asylum and the challenges it creates, young migrant children will continue to be a pool of potential workers for employers to exploit, knowing they have no other viable options.“

On March 8, 1908, seamstresses in New York suddenly stopped work and took to the streets, protesting against the deplorable working conditions in factories, as well as against the use of child labor. Five years ago, American trade union activists led by Mother Jones organized a Children’s March from the Philadelphia factory to the New York vacation home of American President Teddy Roosevelt.

“We want them to hear the cries of children who never have the opportunity to go to school, but who work ten to eleven hours a day in the textile mills of Philadelphia.”– said Mother Jones in a speech during the march.

Various demonstrations as well as strikes and sabotage by children contributed to their removal from factories and mines where the risk of injury was very high. For many, however, this opportunity did not exist because cultural change cannot occur without economic change that would give children the chance to no longer work to survive.

Systems of social security, pensions or child support were anomalies at the time

American historian James D. Schmidt says of a child who in his youth had to work in a mine because of the loss of his father, that “he had nowhere else to go.” Systems of social security, pensions or child benefits were anomalous at the time, and a working-class person’s chances of survival depended strictly on his hard work and luck.

James D. Schmidt talks about the American South and the heat that destroyed the crops, forcing the children of the whole family into the mine, who “returned in a few months, hoping that the crops would bear fruit the next year.” Studies of agricultural shocks in Tanzania, Mexico, and the southern United States support this narrative: poor harvests force children to work and deny them the right to an education.

The clothes come from Bangladesh and for Bangladeshi children the ‘best available alternative’ is manual labor

The possibility of eliminating child labor by raising incomes appears to be an alternative that libertarian economists present to justify the lack of sanctions against countries or companies that use minors in production.

The clothes come from Bangladesh, and for Bangladeshi children, the “best available alternative” is manual labor in textile factories, in the hope that this will help them escape poverty.

However, the mirage that work and additional income in the household will lift people out of poverty does not take into account the need for social programs, restrictions on work schedules that also allow for learning, play, personal development, and not just work. Especially now, when real incomes have fallen by 1.5% in the US and by 0.9% worldwide, according to data from the International Labor Organization.

Around the world, approximately 160 million children work, and 79 million of them work in hazardous conditions, such as oil refineries, slaughterhouses or car factories. Boys are the ones who work more than girls, but the data ignores the real housework, which is often invisible and often not even considered work itself. There is no data to quantify the reality, but if we think about the people around us, we will find examples of children raising their siblings, cooking and cleaning. The article School9 presents the benefits of working from school years: increased responsibility, development of discipline, as well as motivation.

In addition to the benefits, we cannot ignore the stress that work causes in children, due to which they become “adults” earlier.

There are significant differences between a young man who works to earn extra pocket money and one who is forced to do so because he is forced by circumstances and has no confidence in the future. Not all work is conducive to personal development, as studies in Ethiopia and others in Indonesia show, but on the contrary, children who work for survival are much more likely to lose motivation, develop depression and see no way out of poverty. .

In Iowa, the last US state to make it easier for children to work in hazardous conditions, the senators (mostly Republicans) who proposed the legislation talk about the financial and educational opportunities it could provide to children.

Children aged 14 and over will now be able to work on demolishing buildings or installing roofs.

Teaching children the art of labor is an excuse to solve the labor shortage problem facing the United States of America: two available jobs for every unemployed person.

The pandemic has seriously affected the American labor market, and more than three years after the beginning of the health care crisis, workers are no longer willing to work for meager wages. Communities on Reddit, such as /r/AntiWork or More Perfect Union on Twitter, have grown exponentially in recent years and exposed people to the reality some face in the workplace: low wages, bosses who are impossible to please, or lack of benefits such as health insurance. .

The posts sparked a collective discussion as people refuse to settle for less. Adobe research shows that 85% of Gen Z (born between 1996 and 2010) won’t even consider a job if the salary isn’t listed. In Europe, the Commission has approved a salary transparency directive that requires companies to publish salary data.

To solve the problem of lack of personnel, the way out seems simple: to improve working conditions. However, Republicans are beginning to send children back to the factories, presenting the solution as a win-win educational moment. Historian James D. Schmidt analyzed educational opportunities in 19th-century factories and presented the situation as much more miserable: you were likely to stay at your job until you were fired and replaced by someone else.

Editor’s note: Radu Stočita is an ALFA Cartel green transition expert and freelance journalist who has written on labor, economic and technology issues for Jacobin, Al Jazeera, Green Europe Journal and Libertatea.