The Biden administration is trying to curb children working in construction and meat packing facilities, but the use of child labor, often by unaccompanied immigrants or the children of undocumented farmworkers, is completely legal on commercial farms and has lower minimum age limits.
More US child workers die in agriculture than in any other industry, according to a 2018 US government study. Every day, 33 children are injured while working on US farms. “Despite these dangerous conditions, agriculture is the only industry with little to no protections for the 400,000 young children who work in this industry every day.” (Check out the statistics here.)
In addition to raising the minimum working ages in agriculture, the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment and Farm Safety, or CARE Act would limit the number of hours 14 and 15-year-old children can work on school days and prohibit working before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m. and raise the hazardous work age to 18. The legislation would exempt children working on their own families’ farms or participating in educational programs like the 4-H club.
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