After-school or summer jobs can bring back fond memories to many adults who remember the life skills they learned and the pride and independence they felt with some hard-earned cash in their pocket.
That rite of passage has the ability to shape a young person's life and career choices by instilling in them the discipline and drive to succeed in the workplace.
But it can also have a more ominous side, and we're seeing it as more Missouri employers are turning to younger workers to fill employment gaps and, in turn, violating child labor laws.
Why are we seeing such a jump in hiring of youths, as well as an increase in child labor law violations?
Missouri began recording record low unemployment rates starting in June and July 2022, according to the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center. After bottoming out at 2.4 percent in September, the state jobless rate has climbed to around 2.6-2.8 percent in months since.
"To get warm bodies, they (employers) are being forced to hire young kids for these initial jobs," said Todd Smith, director of the division of labor standards for the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
More than 3,100 Missouri teenagers ages 14 and 15 joined the workforce in 2022. It's a 45 percent increase from 2021, according to data from the state labor department. The number of youth work permits jumped from 6,997 to 10,152.
The same year-to-year comparison shows an increase of more than 250 percent in the number of youth employment complaints, which grew from 19 in 2021 to 67 in 2022.
Youth employment data for 2022 show more than 2,200 workers between the ages of 14 and 18 were injured seriously enough that the incident had to be reported to the state's Division of Workers' Compensation.
The types of injuries reported largely haven't changed from past years. Lacerations were the leading workplace injury reported among youths, followed by contusions (bruises), abrasions (scrapes), muscle strains and tears, burns and ligament sprains.
The retail trade industry reported the most number of minors with injuries, followed by the accommodation and food service industry and the health care and social assistance industry.
The state's 67 child labor complaints doesn't mean most employers are skirting the child labor laws; some of the increase could be due to the increase in the number of youths entering the workforce.
But the number of complaints is a red flag for the state to educate employers and workers about the regulations and to enforce them aggressively.
The law requires workers who are 14 or 15 years old to get a work certificate or permit and restricts employment to only certain types of jobs. A child's guardian, employer and school official must sign off on the work permit and submit a copy to the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
Youths can be hired for office and clerical work, food service delivery, vehicle cleaning services, home maintenance and janitorial services, and retail cashier, bagging, selling and shelving work. Most work in fast food restaurants.
They can work between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. from Labor Day to June 1, but no more than eight hours per day on non-school days and no more than three hours on school days. During the summer, they can work between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m., but no more than eight hours per day.
Those child labor laws are there for a reason. Society's first job is to protect the health and safety of those who are most vulnerable; chief among them are our children.
Whether it's the hours that youths are working or the conditions and limitations placed on the types of work they can do, increased vigilance is needed on the part of employers, parents and the state.
-- News Tribune