The Government of President Joe Biden announced strong measures against child labor on Monday, due to a significant increase in violations and investigative reports of Reuters and other media about the illegal employment of migrant minors in dangerous industries in the United States.
US officials said the Labor Department had seen a nearly 70% rise in child labor violations since 2018, even in hazardous occupations.
In the last fiscal year alone, 835 companies were found to have violated child labor laws.
US officials told reporters in a conference call Monday that the administration was investigating the employment of children at companies including Hearthside Food Solutions and suppliers to Hyundai.
The Government has created an inter-agency task force on child labor and plans to investigate the sectors where violations are most likely.
The Democratic administration of US President Joe Biden is also pushing for tougher penalties for companies that break these laws, and for more funding for their enforcement and oversight, they said.
US federal law prohibits those under the age of 16 from working in most factories, and those under the age of 18 are prohibited from the most dangerous jobs in industrial plants.
“This is not a problem of the 19th century or of the 20th century, but something that is happening today,” said one of the conference participants. “We’re seeing kids across the country working in conditions where they should never be employed to begin with.”
A first report in a series of Reuterspublished in February 2022, uncovered young teenagers working in dangerous chicken processing plants in Alabama.
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