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Illegal Child Labor in the United States: Prevalence and Characteristics

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Author Info
Douglas Kruse
Douglas Mahony
Abstract

This study provides the first comprehensive estimates of children and youth working under conditions that violate federal and state child labor laws. Using the CPS, NLS, and other sources, it is estimated that 148,000 minors are employed illegally in an average week working too many hours or in hazardous occupations and 290,000 are employed illegally at some point during a year. The total number of hours worked illegally is about 113 million per year, for which these minors are paid over $560 million. Whites, males, and 15-year-olds are the most likely to be working in violation of child labor laws. Youths working illegally in hazardous jobs earn on average $1.38 per hour less than legal young adults in the same occupations, which combined with the savings from employing youths for excessive hours adds up to a total employer cost savings of roughly $155 million per year. In addition to raising important policy concerns about the health and well-being of these youths, the findings make a case for the development of high-quality employment data on children and youths, to improve estimates of illegal employment and study its effects.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 6479.

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Date of creation: Mar 1998
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:6479

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Richard B. Freeman & James L.. Medoff, 1982. "Why Does the Rate of Youth Labor Force Activity Differ across Surveys?," NBER Chapters, in: The Youth Labor Market Problem: Its Nature, Causes, and Consequences, pages 75-114 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  2. Kathleen Stanley, 1992. "Immigrant and Refugee Workers in the Midwestern Meatpacking Industry: Industrial Restructuring and the Transformation of Rural Labor Markets," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 11(2), pages 106-117, 06. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Holleran Philip M., 1993. "Child Labor and Exploitation in Turn-of-the-Century Cotton Mills," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 485-500, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Parsons, Donald O & Goldin, Claudia, 1989. "Parental Altruism and Self-Interest: Child Labor among Late Nineteenth-Century American Families," Economic Inquiry, Oxford University Press, vol. 27(4), pages 637-59, October.
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  1. Basu, Kaushik, 1998. "Child labor : cause, consequence, and cure, with remarks on International Labor Standards," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2027, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Drusilla K. Brown & Alan V. Deardorff & Robert M. Stern, 1999. "U.S. Trade and Other Policy Options and Programs to Deter Foreign Exploitation of Child Labor," Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University 9904, Department of Economics, Tufts University. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Drusilla K. Brown & Alan V. Deardorff & Robert M Stern, 2002. "The Effects of Multinational Production on Wages and Working Conditions in Developing Countries," Working Papers 486, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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