[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 34 (Thursday, March 4, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E350-E352]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  PROTECTING YOUTH AT WORK: HEALTH, SAFETY AND DEVELOPMENT OF WORKING 
             CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS IN THE UNITED STATES

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 4, 1999

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, every five days a young person is killed on 
the job in this country. Every 40 seconds a child is injured on the 
job. The occupational injury rate for children and teens is more than 
twice as high than it is for adults. These statistics are totally 
unacceptable for a civilized, advanced society like ours. On the eve of 
the 21st Century, this situation is a national disgrace and it is 
totally unacceptable.
  We must ensure that our children are safer at work. Education and 
healthy development are of primary importance during childhood

[[Page E351]]

and adolescence. Working should develop a young person's character, not 
burden them with potentially lifelong ailments. Work should help 
students excel in school, prepare them for a productive life and 
encourage their healthy development.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call attention to the alarming problems 
associated with child labor. I ask that a summary of an important study 
recently released by the Board on Children, Youth, and Families of the 
National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine entitled 
``Protecting Youth at Work'' be placed in the Record. The National 
Research Council is the nonprofit arm of the National Academy of 
Sciences and Engineering. The report was presented to Members of 
Congress and their staffs last week at a briefing sponsored by our 
esteemed colleague, Representative Martin Meehan.
  Mr. Speaker, ``Protecting Youth at Work'' is the product of a blue-
ribbon panel of experts selected to represent a broad range of 
expertise in areas relating to child development, including adolescent 
social and biological development, public agency programs and practice, 
law, economics, sociology, psychology, occupational medicine and rural 
health programs. The committee laid down four general guiding 
principles for protecting youth at work. First, education and 
development are of primary importance during the formative years of 
childhood and adolescence and although work can contribute to these 
goals, it should never be undertaken in ways that compromise education 
or development. Second, the formative and malleable nature of childhood 
and adolescence requires a higher standard of protection for young 
workers than that accorded to adult workers. Third, businesses that 
employ young workers assume a higher level of social obligation which 
should be reflected in the expectations of society as well as in public 
policy. And finally, everyone under 18 years of age has the right to be 
protected from hazardous work, excessive work hours, and unsafe or 
unhealthy work environments, regardless of size of the enterprise in 
which he or she is employed, his or her relationship to the employer, 
or the sector of the economy in which the enterprise operates.
  ``Protecting Youth at Work'' urges Congress to authorize the US 
Department of Labor to limit the hours that 16- and 17-year-olds can 
work (limits already exist for children under the age of 16), eliminate 
child labor exemptions and exceptions in our labor laws which do not 
protect children working in the agricultural sector, and allocate more 
resources to reducing and eliminating the startling disparity of 
injuries and deaths among workers under the age of 18 as compared to 
that of adults.
  Mr. Speaker, our child labor laws should take into account changes in 
the modern workforce. For example, working during the school year has 
become much more commonplace among America's youth over the past 
decades--fewer than 5% of students held school-year jobs before 1950. 
In the 1990's, half of 16- and 17-year-olds work during the school year 
and 80% of all students have a job at some point during the school year 
while they are in high school. ``Protecting Youth at Work'' found that 
more children are working more hours than ever before in our nation's 
history.
  Mr. Speaker, more and more American children don't have enough time 
or energy to devote to their studies. While a job can promote self-
esteem and teach discipline, working excessive hours takes too much 
away from school--academic performance can suffer and so does 
participation in extracurricular activities. ``Protecting Youth at 
Work'' found that young people who work more than twenty hours end up 
sacrificing sleep and exercise, and spend less time with their 
families, in addition to shortchanging their homework. Just look at the 
facts. The amount of teenage work is higher in the United States than 
in any other country in the industrialized world. Educators say that is 
part of the reason why American students lag behind their foreign 
counterparts. As policy makers, it is time for us to carefully weigh 
the benefits of a job against the toll excessive or unsafe work can 
take on a child's academic performance and healthy development.
  Mr. Speaker, my legislation, ``The Young American Workers' Bill of 
Rights Act,'' which I introduced in the last Congress and which I will 
be reintroducing again soon in this Congress, reflects the problems and 
conclusions discussed in ``Protecting Youth at Work.'' This 
comprehensive domestic child labor law reform bill addresses two major 
aspects of child labor: the deaths and serious injuries suffered by 
young workers in the workplace and the negative impact the working 
excessive hours during the school year can have on a youth's education 
and academic performance.
  Specifically, ``The Young American Workers' Bill of Rights Act'' 
proposes new sanctions for willful violations of child labors laws that 
result in the death or serious bodily injury to a child, strengthening 
existing limitations of the number of hours children under 18 can work 
while school is in session, protection for children under the age of 14 
who are migrant or seasonal workers working in agriculture (except in 
the case of children of family farmers), requiring better record 
keeping and reporting of child labor violations, and specifying that 
minors may not use or clean certain types of hazardous equipment or 
engage in certain hazardous occupations, such as poultry processing and 
handling pesticides. Mr. Speaker, the aim of this legislation is to 
ensure that the job opportunities for America's youth are meaningful, 
safe and healthy, not to discourage children from working.
  I urge my colleagues to carefully review ``Protecting Youth at Work'' 
and to join me in supporting the enactment of meaningful child labor 
law reform legislation during this Congress.

                        Protecting Youth at Work

       Congress should authorize the U.S. Department of Labor to 
     limit the number of hours that all youths under the age of 18 
     can work during the school year. The jobs held by children 
     and adolescents in the United States should not interfere 
     with the educational opportunities and healthy development 
     they need to thrive later in life.
       Congress also should eliminate current distinctions in 
     child labor laws between agricultural and nonagricultural 
     employment, says a committee of the National Research Council 
     and Institute of Medicine in its report Protecting Youth at 
     Work: Health, Safety, and Development of Working Children and 
     Adolescents in the United States. In addition, because of the 
     hazardous nature of many agricultural jobs--such as working 
     with heavy equipment and around dangerous chemicals--Congress 
     should examine the effects and feasibility of extending 
     Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations to 
     cover all young people, no matter where they work.
       More broadly, the Labor Department should review 
     regulations intended to protect employed youth from hazards 
     in the workplace. Because of the many changes that have 
     occurred in the U.S. economy and society in the past 30 
     years, the federal government needs to update and enhance 
     these regulations and adequately enforce the laws that cover 
     children and adolescents at work.


                            A NATIONAL NORM

       Work is a common part of the lives of many children and 
     most adolescents in the United States. In surveys, 80 percent 
     of high school students interviewed say that they have held 
     jobs sometime during their high school years.
       Working has a broad mix of positive and negative effects on 
     young people. It provides them with valuable lessons about 
     responsibility, punctuality, dealing with people, and money 
     management, while increasing their self-esteem and helping 
     them become independent and skilled.
       But the workplace also can be dangerous. Work-related 
     injuries send tens of thousands of children and adolescents 
     to hospital emergency rooms annually. Hundreds of these young 
     people require hospitalization, and at least 70 die of work-
     related injuries every year. The rate of injuries per hour 
     worked is almost twice as high for children and adolescents, 
     in part because of their inexperience and lack of training. 
     The workplaces with the most injuries for young workers are 
     retail stores and restaurants, manufacturing and 
     construction, the public sector, and agriculture. 
     Furthermore, an unknown number of young workers are exposed 
     to toxic or carcinogenic substances, which may cause 
     illnesses many years later.
       ``High-intensity work''--generally defined as more than 20 
     hours per week--is associated with additional negative 
     consequences for adolescents, ranging from less time spent 
     with families and a lack of sleep to substance abuse and 
     minor deviance like theft and aggression.


                       Protecting employed youth

       The legal and regulatory provisions developed years ago to 
     protect employed youth do not reflect today's work hazards or 
     important changes in rates of school attendance and 
     employment. For example, exempting 16- and 17-year-olds from 
     limitations on working hours was reasonable when most of them 
     had left school and were earning money for their families; 
     now that the vast majority remain in school, this exemption 
     no longer makes sense.
       Other rules and regulations regarding working youth also 
     need to be updated. The Department of Labor should work with 
     the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 
     (NIOSH) to review periodically the rules that define which 
     jobs are too hazardous for workers under the age of 18. Steps 
     to eliminate outdated regulations, strengthen inadequate 
     ones, and develop additional restrictions or safeguards to 
     address new technologies and working conditions should be 
     based on research provided by NIOSH.
       Many of the industries that employ large numbers of 
     children have high injury rates for workers of all ages, but 
     young workers often do not receive appropriate health and 
     safety training. The developing physical, cognitive, and 
     emotional characteristics of adolescents--along with their 
     inexperience--should be considered in understanding the 
     risks they face and in designing job training for them. 
     Issues that need particular attention are the exposures of 
     working youth to pesticides and other toxic substances and 
     the adequacy for young workers of state workers' 
     compensation systems.

[[Page E352]]

                               Education

       A national initiative, spearheaded by NIOSH, could promote 
     understanding of safety hazards in the workplace and the 
     protections to which employed youth are entitled by law. 
     Regional resource centers and community partnerships could 
     provide assistance to schools, parents, employers, government 
     agencies, and youth.
       Employers who provide healthy, safe, and beneficial 
     workplaces for young people should be recognized. The 
     secretary of labor should convene a prestigious group to 
     develop criteria for designating ``commendable workplaces for 
     youth.'' Local organizations then could use these criteria to 
     identify exemplary employers.


                           Better Information

       Although a combination of federal, state, and local data 
     sources provides a fair amount of information about working 
     teenagers, significant information gaps remain. NIOSH needs 
     to develop and implement, with other federal agencies, a 
     comprehensive plan for monitoring the injuries, illnesses, 
     and hazards experienced by workers under age 18. The Bureau 
     of Labor Statistics should routinely collect and publicly 
     report data on the employment of young people age 14 and 
     older. In addition, these and other federal agencies should 
     conduct research in several critical areas, including the 
     employment of children under age 14 and the most effective 
     strategies to protect youth in the workplace.

     

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