Aviva Fried / Photo credit: Fiora Garenzi / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP
In France, the catering and hotel sectors are short of manpower. Bosses could turn to minors aged 16 to 18 to save the summer season, despite the fear of hiring these young people. In the United States, in some states, minors can work legally from the age of 14.
Faced with the lack of manpower, bosses in the catering and hotel sector have planned to turn to minors between the ages of 16 and 18, even if most remain cautious about this. In the United States, this practice has been common for many years. A federal law dating from 1938 stipulates that it is forbidden to employ minors under the age of 14 and below 16, the work must not be dangerous and the hours must be limited.
Six hours a day during the school year
But for several years, the number of offenses has tripled. Last February, the labor inspectorate discovered around 100 miners working at night in meat cutting and packaging factories, where they had to operate circular saws. Instead of strengthening the law, several states, on the contrary, have decided to relax it.
Indeed, faced with the labor shortage, the legislators thought that resorting to child labor was a good solution. This is the case in Iowa where the Republican governor has just signed a law authorizing minors to work six hours a day during the school year, from the age of 14. They may even work in previously prohibited sectors, such as industrial laundries, where they come into contact with dangerous chemicals. More than a dozen other states are ready to follow Iowa’s lead, while in 2021, 24 children died in workplace accidents in the United States.