{"id":96778,"date":"2023-03-26T18:33:58","date_gmt":"2023-03-26T22:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=96778"},"modified":"2023-03-28T09:00:32","modified_gmt":"2023-03-28T13:00:32","slug":"child-labor-in-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/child-labor-in-the-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Is Child Labor in the U.S. on the Rise? A Look at the Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Why is child labor in the U.S. on the rise? How much has child labor increased in recent years?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 2015 and 2022, the number of children employed in violation of child labor laws in the U.S. tripled from 1,012 to 3,876. Most minors in these exploitative work situations are migrant children who have fled violence and poverty in their home countries to pursue better circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to learn what’s behind this increase in child labor violations in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Problem With Child Labor in the U.S.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Last month, Packers Sanitation Services, a company that employs workers to clean food processing plants, paid a $1.5 million fine<\/a> for hiring 102 children to work at meatpacking factories in eight states. Children\u2019s work included using caustic chemicals to clean processing equipment like headsplitters<\/a>, backsaws<\/a>, and other grinding machines and electric knives<\/a>. Some, working overnight shifts, suffered burns from the chemicals<\/a>\u2014which are strong enough to corrode pipes.\u00a0Child labor in the U.S. has been on the rise since 2015<\/a>, following a years-long decline. In the seven years that followed, the number of children employed in violation of child labor laws tripled from 1,012 to 3,876\u2014and the number working in hazardous occupations like meatpacking and construction rose by 93 percent<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The child labor problem stretches across a range of industries in every U.S. state. The minors most often confronting these perils are migrant children who have fled violence and poverty in their home countries<\/a> to pursue better opportunities\u2014the vast majority of whom don\u2019t have a parent here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s behind the rise of child labor violations in the U.S.? In this article, we’ll take a deeper look to examine this question. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Resurgence in Child Labor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The rise in U.S. child labor sources, in part, from a surge of children crossing the Southern U.S. border in recent years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n