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Child labor remains a top issue in 2024 state legislative sessions amid soaring violations and widespread abuse of child labor laws in multiple sectors of the economy. On one hand, the coordinated, industry-backed effort to roll back child labor protections state by state has continued to expand. At the same time, some state legislators are proposing legislation to strengthen the rights of young workers and the laws designed to safeguard their health and education.

Since 2021, 28 states have introduced bills to weaken child labor laws, and 12 states have enacted them. By contrast, 14 states have introduced bills to strengthen child labor protections already in 2024—up from 11 states in all of 2023—as more state lawmakers recognize the need to address increasing violations and threats to current state and federal standards.

Attacks on child labor laws continue trend of weakening important state standards, with eventual goal of diminishing federal child labor laws 

From the 1800s onward, states have often led the way on child labor regulation. Today, many important policy tools for preventing exploitative forms of child labor—such as work permit requirements for young teens and hours standards for older teens—remain under state purview because the federal 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) has never been amended to include them. Many recent proposals to weaken child labor standards appear designed to eliminate any state standard that exceeds the FLSA, or even create state standards lower than or in contradiction to federal standards. This is an intentional tactic to generate pressure for subsequently lowering federal standards, reflecting long-standing interests of some industry groups.

In January 2024 alone, eight states introduced or took new actions on bills to roll back child labor protections (see Figure A). For example:

• Florida lawmakers are debating a bill (recently passed by the House) that would eliminate long-standing state guidelines on work hours for teens, allowing employers to schedule 16- and 17-year-olds for unlimited hours—including during the school year—and eliminate meal or rest breaks.
• Kentucky lawmakers introduced a bill to allow nonprofits to hire 12- and 13-year-olds (federal law prohibits most non-agricultural employment for children under 14), and a bill to prohibit the state’s labor commissioner from setting standards on child labor that exceed minimum protections under the FLSA, effectively repealing state standards that require meal and rest breaks for minor workers and that limit work hours for 16- and 17-year-olds.
• Two other states—Indiana and New Jersey—have also introduced bills to extend the number of hours minors can be scheduled to work, either during the summer or year-round.
• Two states—Missouri and West Virginia—have introduced new bills to eliminate youth work permits, and a Georgia bill introduced in 2023 and recommitted in 2024 would also eliminate youth work permits and allow 14-year-olds to do landscaping work on the grounds of workplaces where they are otherwise prohibited from working (like factories and mills).

Three more states are considering proposals allowing employers to hire children for hazardous jobs, in possible violation of federal standards

In 2023, at least five states—Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and New York—introduced legislation to expand youth employment in hazardous occupations or workplaces. The Iowa bill, which was enacted, expanded hazardous employment for children as young as 14—in violation of federal law. The bill also set up a “work-based learning” program under which 16-year-olds can perform hazardous work like roofing and demolition that is generally prohibited under federal law for anyone younger than 18.

In January 2024, three more states—Florida, Indiana, and West Virginia—introduced bills to weaken protections against hazardous work that may violate federal standards, often under the guise of expanding teen access to “career education.” For example:           

• In Florida, a “career and technical education” bill would have allowed employers to hire 16- and 17-year-olds for work in roofing, in violation of federal orders that prohibit work in occupations known to be particularly dangerous for young workers. Upon mounting opposition spurred by sustained organizing by in-state advocates, the bill has so far been amended to allow an exemption from hazardous work protections only in residential building construction. However, teens are at risk for high rates of injury or fatality on any construction site, and in its current form the bill likely still risks violating federal law.
• A bill in Indiana proposed allowing 16- and 17-year-olds enrolled in “work-based learning programs” to perform particularly hazardous work that is prohibited for minors under federal law, adopting similar language as Iowa’s law enacted in 2023. The bill also proposed establishing complete employer immunity from civil liability in the event of workplace injuries or fatalities of youth enrolled in such programs (again adopting language that was proposed in an early version of 2023 legislation in Iowa), meaning the families of children injured or killed on the job would have no recourse to seek damages. And the bill also proposed allowing employers to schedule 14- and 15-year-olds for later evening shifts and longer workweeks during the school year—in violation of federal law. However, after advocates sounded the alarm about the dangers of these provisions, they were eliminated from the bill. The bill still includes a provision to lower the age to serve alcohol and a last-minute amendment will create a 10-minute grace period before civil penalties can be assessed for violations. The Senate passed the bill on February 6.

Iowa is considering further dangerous child labor rollbacks

Iowa lawmakers have introduced a bill to weaken standards related to child-to-staff ratios at child care centers, expanding even further on a 2022 law that allowed child care centers to assign teen workers sole responsibility for more toddlers. The new House bill would allow 16-year-olds to care for four infants, or seven toddlers, or 10 three-year-olds without direct supervision. Iowa also introduced a bill to allow minors as young as 14 to obtain a special driver’s license to drive up to 25 miles to or from work without an adult in the vehicle, despite data showing the importance of graduated driving license programs and despite Iowa having the highest share of young driver fatalities in 2020.

Fourteen states are considering measures to strengthen weak and outdated child labor laws

In response to effective organizing by in-state advocates, proposals to strengthen child labor protections are gaining momentum. Fourteen states have introduced proactive child labor bills so far in 2024, up from 11 states in 2023 (see Figure B).

• Four states have introduced bills requiring high school students to be educated about their workplace rights (Illinois, Maryland, New York, Rhode Island).
• Four states have introduced bills to strengthen enforcement of child labor laws (Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Virginia).
• Two states have introduced bills to eliminate provisions in state law that allow certain minors to be paid below the minimum wage (New Jersey, Rhode Island).
• Six states have introduced bills to safeguard the rights of child performers or mandate that child influencers receive a share of the profits made from monetized social media content featuring them or using their likeness (Arizona, California, Georgia, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio).

Proactive proposals to strengthen enforcement include increasing civil and criminal penalties, establishing enhanced workers’ compensation and other legal remedies for children injured while employed illegally, bolstering state labor department authority, incentivizing reporting, and strengthening violation disclosure requirements. For example, a comprehensive new bill in Colorado proposes to:

• deter violations of the law by increasing civil penalties and depositing them into a fund for wage theft enforcement;
• incentivize reporting by creating anti-retaliation protections and removing criminal liability for parents and guardians who allow their child to work in violation of the law; and
• enhance transparency by requiring the state to release information about violations to the public.

These proposals would build on legislation enacted last year in Colorado to allow the families of illegally employed children injured on the job to sue their employer for damages, expanding the legal remedies available to victims beyond the workers’ compensation system.

Federal laws set an important—but weak and increasingly outdated—floor for child labor standards. States continue to play essential roles in ensuring children who work can do so in safe, age-appropriate conditions that don’t jeopardize their long-term health, development, or education. To address the growing child labor crisis across the country, more state lawmakers in 2024 should take steps to guarantee strong labor standards, enforcement, and workers’ rights education for youth—policies that ensure children of all backgrounds can access positive first work experiences that lead to a lifetime of career success.