While child labor is viewed negatively, apparently child labor and child slavery aren’t the same thing, and child labor though it could still be exploitative/cruel in other ways, can be done voluntarily by the child, and with fair treatment/compensation/etc.
I suppose you could make the argument that any child labor opens itself up to problems, but could it be done responsibly? And if not, then at what age do we draw the line of labor being not ok regardless of consent?
Ah, you meant in the long run, yeah, fair.
I agree that labor by minors is should only be allowed in very specific cases and highly regulated. I’m not sure if I’d limit entirely to non-profit organizations, or entirely to the summer, or whatever, but yeah, it’s not something to take lightly.
Growing up in suburbia, the labor we did have wasn’t a problem… Is the general regulatory scheme around child labor in the US deeply problematic in some way I don’t know about? Are there a lot of states that are way too permissive?
In reaction to the renewed labor movement over the last few years, multiple states have been passing laws to remove child labor restrictions and at the federal level, there are efforts such as reducing the age requirement for long-haul truckers. The excuses used are “labor crisis” and “supply chain crisis”, when the real reason is purely about workers wanting a fair wage after 40 years of stagnantion and decline in purchasing power due to inflation. Children are being used to suppress wages, when no regard to the harm done to them or society.
Recently, there have also been numerous incidents connected to agriculture and meat processing plants (which are already known to illegally exploit migrant labor with help from ICE), including children being put to work on overnight shifts, at least one child losing a hand, etc.