Government Reports Show Working Teens at Risk

CLC Agrees with Assessment of Nation’s Child Labor Protection

Contact: NCL Communications Department, 202-835-3323, media@nclnet.org 

Washington, DC--Two recent government reports show deficiencies in national law and enforcement aimed to protect the four million working youth in the United States. The Child Labor Coalition (CLC) agrees that youth are at risk – with injuries occurring from teens doing prohibited as well as legal work. “What’s the risk for teens?” asks CLC Coordinator Darlene Adkins. “Every day, approximately 500 youth are injured in the workplace and one dies on average every five days.”

In spite of these astounding numbers, there has not been a comprehensive review of the federal child labor regulations since they were enacted more than 60 years ago. That is until 2000, when the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) contracted with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to complete a review of current workplace hazards for working minors and the adequacy of existing Hazardous Occupation Orders (HOs) to address them. 

In July, USDOL released NIOSH Recommendations to the US Department of Labor For Changes To Hazardous Orders.  The 176-page report proposes 37 modifications be made to existing HOs (in both the agricultural and non-agricultural occupations), as well as proposing 17 new HOs. Included in the proposed new HOs are construction and work at heights, exposure to lead and silica, heavy machinery and tractors, and work requiring the use of respiratory protection. Moreover, the report identifies areas requiring further research, such as work-related homicide, a leading cause of young worker injury death. 

In September, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) released its report, Child Labor: Labor Can Strengthen Its Efforts to Protect Children Who Work, which criticized USDOL’s record of enforcement in jobs where teenagers face a high risk of injury and death, such as construction, manufacturing, and agriculture. Although fewer teens work in these industries, the fatality and injury rate is much higher in these jobs than in others. Yet, GAO states that USDOL devotes little compliance efforts in comparison to other industries.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics says 613 teen workers died of work-related injuries from 1992 to 2000, with 41 percent of them in agricultural jobs, 14 percent in construction, and 6 percent in manufacturing.

The GAO report further stated that USDOL has only recently developed specific goals for improving employer compliance in the industries in which most children work and continues to lack specific goals for industries for which children have high rates of injuries and fatalities. GAO also reported that USDOL has not developed adequate methods of measuring the success of all of its compliance efforts.

“There’s no excuse for inadequate child labor laws, non-compliance by employers, and weak enforcement strategies,” says Adkins.  “These reports – and the injuries they are based on – should motivate our government and employers to better protect working teens.” 

The CLC calls upon the USDOL to prioritize the NIOSH recommendations and issue proposed rulemaking to update the protections for working minors.  To accomplish this, as well as develop enforcement strategies and evaluation, the CLC calls for USDOL to form an advisory committee comprised of government, industry, labor, and advocacy groups.

The CLC has posted the NIOSH report’s Executive Summary on its Web site.  For the complete report, contact USDOL’s Wage and Hour Division at 202-693-0051.  For NCL’s Five Worst Teen Jobs, visit www.nclnet.org/childlabor.  For the GAO report, visit http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces160.shtml.

CLC is a national group that works to end child labor exploitation in the U.S. and abroad and to protect the health, education, and safety of working minors.  The CLC is comprised of more than 70 organizations, reflecting educators, health groups, religious and women’s groups, human rights groups, consumer groups, labor unions, and child labor advocates.  The coalition is coordinated by the National Consumers League.

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