Child Labor
Author: Davis, Shelley
Date Published: 2001
Child labor has been a feature of American agriculture since the birth of the nation. Yet few legal protections exist to safeguard the health and well-being of young farmworkers. Exposure to pesticides, transportation accidents, tractor rollovers, unguarded machinery, open irrigation ditches, and animals are among the most serious workplace hazards they face. While the children of farm owners or operators often engage in work activities on farms, this paper focuses on two groups of migrant and seasonal workers who perform farm work: unaccompanied minors who are hired to do farm work and children of adult farmworkers who work alongside their parents. Efforts should be made to improve the earning power of adult farmworkers to reduce the dependence of farmworker families' on the income of working children. Programs should also be initiated to encourage farmworker teens to remain in school and pursue higher education. Safety training programs should be devised to teach young agricultural workers how to perform farm labor tasks safely in order to reduce the number of fatal and non-fatal injuries.
Date Published: 2001
Child labor has been a feature of American agriculture since the birth of the nation. Yet few legal protections exist to safeguard the health and well-being of young farmworkers. Exposure to pesticides, transportation accidents, tractor rollovers, unguarded machinery, open irrigation ditches, and animals are among the most serious workplace hazards they face. While the children of farm owners or operators often engage in work activities on farms, this paper focuses on two groups of migrant and seasonal workers who perform farm work: unaccompanied minors who are hired to do farm work and children of adult farmworkers who work alongside their parents. Efforts should be made to improve the earning power of adult farmworkers to reduce the dependence of farmworker families' on the income of working children. Programs should also be initiated to encourage farmworker teens to remain in school and pursue higher education. Safety training programs should be devised to teach young agricultural workers how to perform farm labor tasks safely in order to reduce the number of fatal and non-fatal injuries.
