Consumer Campaigns, Legistlation, and Best Practice Solutions

· Hundreds of Thousands of Children Work in the Fields in the United States

Identifying the number of children working in U.S. agriculture has not received much attention from the federal government. However, in 1998, the General Accounting Office (GAO) estimated the number of children working in U.S. fields at 300,000^[1]. That same year, the National Agricultural Statistics Survey estimated the number of hired farmworkers between the ages of 12 and 17 at 431,000. During field research conducted by AFOP, we have commonly seen children working who are under the age of 12. Many children work under their parents’ social security numbers and do not appear officially as “hired farmworkers.” When these children are considered, it seems very likely that the number of U.S. children working in the fields approaches 500,000.

An estimated 85 percent of migrant and seasonal farm workers are racial minorities. In some communities, 99 percent of the farmworkers are Latino. An increasing number of immigrant youth between the ages of 14 and 17 are migrating to the U.S. from Mexico and Central America to perform farm labor. In 1997, a Department of Labor report estimated that there were 55,000 of these child laborers traveling without the protection of their immediate families.^[2]

Studies suggest that half the youth who regularly perform farm work never graduate from high school^[3]. AFOP believes that the non-completion rate is about 65 percent. In some migrant communities, four out of five students do not graduate.

Children in agriculture work, on average, 30 hours a week. Long hours in the field make it difficult to succeed in school.

When Elda Hernandez was six, her family worked in an area of California that was so remote, she and her siblings ended up missing an entire school year. “There wasn’t anything there. My parents couldn’t take us to school,” she recalled. Elda started helping her family in the fields when she was in the fifth grade, missing two months of school to pick cherries and raspberries. By the time she was 12, her wrists hurt too much to work. She resumed work a year later, continuing to miss the last two weeks of each school year. Poor grades her freshman year, partly caused by missing school to do farm work, may have contributed to her decision to drop out as a sophomore. Later, she returned to school and, like many farmworker children, valiantly struggled to catch up with her course work.

Children account for about 20 percent of all farm fatalities.^[4] According to the General Accountability Office in 1998, more than 100,000 children and teens are injured on farms each year^[5]. Farmworkers regularly work in fields treated with pesticides—some of them are known carcinogens. Child farmworkers are exposed to the same pesticide levels as adults, yet likely face a far greater health risk. In March 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimated that children under the age of two may be 10 times more vulnerable to cancer from chemicals and pesticides that cause gene mutations. Children ages three to 15 may experience at least three times the cancer threat that the same chemicals pose to adults, said the EPA. Yet, the Agency has not established additional protections for working children under the Worker Protection Standard, the body of regulations that limits farmworkers’ exposure to recently sprayed fields.

In June 1998, a 17-year-old migrant farmworker named Jose Antonio Casillas died suddenly of brain hemorrhage. The youth had mistakenly been sprayed with organophosphate pesticides twice in the prior week.

· Farmworker children are not being afforded the same protection as other working children

Federal laws permit a child aged 13 to work in 100-degree heat in a strawberry field, but do not permit that child to work in an air-conditioned office. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) the legal age to perform most farm work is only 12 if a parent accompanies the working child^[6]. Children who are 14 or older can work unlimited hours in the fields before or after school hours. The same law requires a minimum age of 14 years for non-agriculture work and limits such work to 3 hours per day while school is in session.^[7]

Farmworker children should not receive less protection from labor laws because they must work in agriculture—an industry that no longer deserves sweeping exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act, legislation that was enacted 65 ago when our national economy was vastly different.

In July 2002, the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs interviewed a group of 15 farmworkers in Texas. Most of the workers were between the ages of 10 and 16. Ten-year-old Robert Aguilar worked five hours a day to help support his family. Another youth, Gilberto, said he was 13 and had been working cotton for five years. Four of the group had started farm work at 10 or younger. Sixty percent had missed some school because of farm work.

In May 2003, AFOP interviewed children as young as nine and 10 harvesting onions in the fields of Batesville, Texas.

Many children work with their families or play in the fields because their families cannot find or afford childcare. There are federal programs for migrant youth—Migrant Head Start and Migrant Education—that need to be fully funded so that all migrant and seasonal farmworker families have access to safe and affordable child care. A study in 2001 found that only 19% of the eligible migrant children and 2% of the eligible seasonal children in our country were being served.^[8] This compares to a 60% national rate of participation.

Many migrant children work to supplement family income. Using data collected in 2000-2001, a report issued by the federal government’s National Agricultural Workers Survey revealed that the average annual income range for individuals in farm work (including their non-farm work income) was only $10,000-$12,499. Researchers found that 30 percent of the farmworkers interviewed lived below the federal poverty line. Thirty-nine percent of families of four were below the poverty line. Half the families of six were in poverty, and six of ten 10 with more than seven individuals were below the poverty line.^[9] Dire poverty forces many farmworker parents to risk their children’s educational future by asking them to help augment family income helping to harvest crops.

It’s time to address the unequal treatment of child farmworkers under the law. The 109th Congress considered legislation to remedy the problem but did not act.

Can we continue to allow the children of migrant and seasonal farmworkers to receive unequal treatment under U.S. law? Please urge members of the 110th Congress to revise the Fair Labor Standards Act to remove exemptions that allow children working in agriculture to work longer hours at younger ages and to perform hazardous work at younger ages than children working in other industries.

[1] U.S. General Accounting Office, “Child Labor in Agriculture: Characteristics and Legality of Work,” Washington, DC: U.S. General Accounting Office, 1998; GAO/HEHS-98-112R, p.2

[2] U.S. Department of Labor, “The Health of Immigrant Children of Farmworkers: Findings from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (1997).”

[3] Migrant Attrition Project (1987). (Researchers determined that the national dropout rate was roughly 45% and the high school graduation rate was roughly 49%).

[4] Children and Agriculture: Opportunities for Safety and Health

[5] Ibid.

[6] 29 U.S.C. section 213.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Department of Health and Human Services, “Descriptive Study of Seasonal Farmworker Families”(September 2001).

[9] U.S. Department of Labor, “Findings from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) 2001-2002—A Demographic and Employment Profile of United States Farm Workers, Research Report No. 9” [Issued March 2005].


	Children in the Fields: The Inequitable Treatment of Child Farmworkers
		· Hundreds of Thousands of Children Work in the Fields in the United States Identifying the number of children working in U.S. agriculture has not received much attention from the federal government. However, in 1998, the General Accounting Office (GAO) estimated the number of children working in U.S. fields at 300,000^[1]. That same year, the National Agricultural Statistics Survey estimated the number of hired farmworkers between the ages of 12 and 17 at 431,000. During field research conducted by AFOP, we have commonly seen children working who are under the age of 12. Many children work under their parents’ social security numbers and do not appear officially as “hired farmworkers.” When these children are considered, it seems very likely that the number of U.S. children working in the fields approaches 500,000. · Most of the children working in agriculture are Latino An estimated 85 percent of migrant and seasonal farm workers are racial minorities. In some communities, 99 percent of the farmworkers are Latino. An increasing number of immigrant youth between the ages of 14 and 17 are migrating to the U.S. from Mexico and Central America to perform farm labor. In 1997, a Department of Labor report estimated that there were 55,000 of these child laborers traveling without the protection of their immediate families.^[2] · These Latino children are dropping out of school at an alarming rate Studies suggest that half the youth who regularly perform farm work never graduate from high school^[3]. AFOP believes that the non-completion rate is about 65 percent. In some migrant communities, four out of five students do not graduate. Children in agriculture work, on average, 30 hours a week. Long hours in the field make it difficult to succeed in school. When Elda Hernandez was six, her family worked in an area of California that was so remote, she and her siblings ended up missing an entire school year. “There wasn’t anything there. My parents couldn’t take us to school,” she recalled. Elda started helping her family in the fields when she was in the fifth grade, missing two months of school to pick cherries and raspberries. By the time she was 12, her wrists hurt too much to work. She resumed work a year later, continuing to miss the last two weeks of each school year. Poor grades her freshman year, partly caused by missing school to do farm work, may have contributed to her decision to drop out as a sophomore. Later, she returned to school and, like many farmworker children, valiantly struggled to catch up with her course work. · Children working in agriculture face serious health threats Children account for about 20 percent of all farm fatalities.^[4] According to the General Accountability Office in 1998, more than 100,000 children and teens are injured on farms each year^[5]. Farmworkers regularly work in fields treated with pesticides—some of them are known carcinogens. Child farmworkers are exposed to the same pesticide levels as adults, yet likely face a far greater health risk. In March 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimated that children under the age of two may be 10 times more vulnerable to cancer from chemicals and pesticides that cause gene mutations. Children ages three to 15 may experience at least three times the cancer threat that the same chemicals pose to adults, said the EPA. Yet, the Agency has not established additional protections for working children under the Worker Protection Standard, the body of regulations that limits farmworkers’ exposure to recently sprayed fields. In June 1998, a 17-year-old migrant farmworker named Jose Antonio Casillas died suddenly of brain hemorrhage. The youth had mistakenly been sprayed with organophosphate pesticides twice in the prior week. · Farmworker children are not being afforded the same protection as other working children Federal laws permit a child aged 13 to work in 100-degree heat in a strawberry field, but do not permit that child to work in an air-conditioned office. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) the legal age to perform most farm work is only 12 if a parent accompanies the working child^[6]. Children who are 14 or older can work unlimited hours in the fields before or after school hours. The same law requires a minimum age of 14 years for non-agriculture work and limits such work to 3 hours per day while school is in session.^[7] Farmworker children should not receive less protection from labor laws because they must work in agriculture—an industry that no longer deserves sweeping exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act, legislation that was enacted 65 ago when our national economy was vastly different. In July 2002, the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs interviewed a group of 15 farmworkers in Texas. Most of the workers were between the ages of 10 and 16. Ten-year-old Robert Aguilar worked five hours a day to help support his family. Another youth, Gilberto, said he was 13 and had been working cotton for five years. Four of the group had started farm work at 10 or younger. Sixty percent had missed some school because of farm work. In May 2003, AFOP interviewed children as young as nine and 10 harvesting onions in the fields of Batesville, Texas. · We must provide support services to farmworker families and children. Many children work with their families or play in the fields because their families cannot find or afford childcare. There are federal programs for migrant youth—Migrant Head Start and Migrant Education—that need to be fully funded so that all migrant and seasonal farmworker families have access to safe and affordable child care. A study in 2001 found that only 19% of the eligible migrant children and 2% of the eligible seasonal children in our country were being served.^[8] This compares to a 60% national rate of participation. · We must ensure that farmworker families make a living wage. Many migrant children work to supplement family income. Using data collected in 2000-2001, a report issued by the federal government’s National Agricultural Workers Survey revealed that the average annual income range for individuals in farm work (including their non-farm work income) was only $10,000-$12,499. Researchers found that 30 percent of the farmworkers interviewed lived below the federal poverty line. Thirty-nine percent of families of four were below the poverty line. Half the families of six were in poverty, and six of ten 10 with more than seven individuals were below the poverty line.^[9] Dire poverty forces many farmworker parents to risk their children’s educational future by asking them to help augment family income helping to harvest crops. · We must act now to protect child farmworkers. It’s time to address the unequal treatment of child farmworkers under the law. The 109th Congress considered legislation to remedy the problem but did not act. Can we continue to allow the children of migrant and seasonal farmworkers to receive unequal treatment under U.S. law? Please urge members of the 110th Congress to revise the Fair Labor Standards Act to remove exemptions that allow children working in agriculture to work longer hours at younger ages and to perform hazardous work at younger ages than children working in other industries. For more information, please contact: Heather Anderson Children in the Fields Project Coordinator Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs 1726 M Street, Suite 800 Washington, D.C. 20036-4524 Telephone: (202) 828-6006, ext. 105 Email: anderson@afop.org Rev. 2007 [1] U.S. General Accounting Office, “Child Labor in Agriculture: Characteristics and Legality of Work,” Washington, DC: U.S. General Accounting Office, 1998; GAO/HEHS-98-112R, p.2 [2] U.S. Department of Labor, “The Health of Immigrant Children of Farmworkers: Findings from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (1997).” [3] Migrant Attrition Project (1987). (Researchers determined that the national dropout rate was roughly 45% and the high school graduation rate was roughly 49%). [4] Children and Agriculture: Opportunities for Safety and Health [5] Ibid. [6] 29 U.S.C. section 213. [7] Ibid. [8] Department of Health and Human Services, “Descriptive Study of Seasonal Farmworker Families”(September 2001). [9] U.S. Department of Labor, “Findings from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) 2001-2002—A Demographic and Employment Profile of United States Farm Workers, Research Report No. 9” [Issued March 2005].
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