Republican-held states in the Midwest are slowly slipping away child labour regulations as violations skyrocket across the country.
Earlier this month, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) confirmed she would sign Senate Bill 542 when she gets to her office. The legislation will remove restrictions preventing children aged 14 from working in hazardous environments such as construction sites and demolitions, as well as allow anyone over the age of 13 to work up to six hours a day during the school year.
In March, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) signed on Youth Recruitment Act, a bill that allows employers to hire children under the age of 16 without obtaining a permit from the state Department of Labor. The state also no longer requires age verification for those under 16. These requirements were in place to prevent employers from exploiting children, according to Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.
“The Governor believes that protecting children is more important, but this leave was an arbitrary burden on associates to get permission from the government to do their work,” said Sanders communications director Alexa Henning. he told National Public Radio. “All the child labor laws that actually protect children are still in place and we expect businesses to comply just as they are required to do now.”
These two states aren't the only places where labor law repeals are being considered, as several Midwestern states have proposed similar legislation recently, including Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and Ohio.
These reversals in restrictions come as the US Department of Labor reference the highest number of child labor violations in years, with a sharp increase up more than 200% since 2015. Late last year, a Labor Dept research found that several McDonald's franchises were violating child labor laws by employing hundreds of children. After these revelations, the Biden administration announced new measures to crack down on violations by creating a task force to investigate potential violation sites and tougher punishments for employers.
Child labor laws in the US are in place to prevent harmful effects of child exploitation, including physical deterioration of health and poor educational performance.
