Guest Commentary | Teens’ first jobs must be safe jobs

Nick Ratmiroff

Whether you are a parent, a teacher, or a member of the community, we all want to ensure that the children in our neighborhoods are safe, healthy, and have access to the education they deserve. The child labor protections established in 1938 by the Fair Labor Standards Act were designed to ensure just that — that children have safe, healthy jobs that do not stand in the way of their educational opportunities. At the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, we are dedicated to making these protections a reality for the young people in our community.

Here in Florida, a recent U.S. Department of Labor investigation found five skating rinks employed children under age 16 to work longer hours than legally allowed.

Unfortunately, cases like our recent Florida investigation remind us that illegal child labor is not a thing of the past. In recent years, the Wage and Hour Division has seen a troubling rise in child labor violations across the country. In fiscal year 2023, we found nearly 5,800 children employed illegally, an 88 percent increase since 2019. Employers were assessed more than $8 million in penalties for those violations, an increase of 83 percent from the previous year.

Our nation, our state and our communities must do better than that.

To combat the problem, the department is actively engaged in a nationwide child labor enforcement and outreach initiative. Our top priority is protecting the most vulnerable workers in our country and our state – kids. We are providing education and training to parents, youth, school officials and employers so that everyone understands the rules and how they can help protect Florida’s youngest workers.

But this isn’t just the job of the Department of Labor. Everyone involved in a young worker’s life can play a role in keeping children out of harm’s way. By staying informed and raising awareness of federal child labor rules against dangerous jobs and excessive hours, we can ensure that teenagers’ first jobs are good, safe jobs. Positive, age-appropriate work experiences can allow young people to develop skills and learn what it means to be part of the labor force. These are the kinds of good jobs that can get young workers on the path to good careers.

To be clear: age-appropriate and safe workplace experiences offer teens valuable learning opportunities and a chance to earn money. Those benefits, however, must never come at the expense of a young person’s education or well-being. We call on parents, educators and others concerned about our communities and the future of Florida’s youngest workers to work together to keep teen workers safe. We will not allow our economy to be built on the backs of children. Florida is better than that.

Nicolas Ratmiroff is a district director for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division in Tampa, Florida.