Ohio Senate passes new bill extending working hours for children

This month, Ohio Senate passed Senate Bill 30, a bill that allows children as young as 14 to work longer hours during the school year.

Supporters of the bill say it will help ease pandemic-era labor shortages in the state. Ohio is not alone in this growing national trend, where several Midwestern states — including Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota — have all pushed legislators to weaken child labor protections.

However, a recent report from the U.S. Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division reveals that child labor violations have already been on the rise since 2015. Their reporting found that 1,012 minors were employed in violation of child labor laws that year. The number has more than tripled since then, showing 3,876 violations in 2022.