Kids under 16 no longer need work permits in Arkansas.
The new GOP governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders (photo, left), a hardcore cheap-labor conservative, signed a bill this week doing away with requiring parental permission for minor children to work. The bill also weakens other child labor protections (see stories here and here).
Her spokesperson said, “All child labor laws that actually protect children still apply and we expect businesses to comply just as they are required to do now.”
What’s different is employers are now on the honor system. You see, conservatives don’t believe in government oversight or regulation of business. With a new sheriff in town (i.e., Sanders), from now on we’ll trust employers to act in good faith and comply with child labor laws. Like this employer did.
Unless you’ve been in deep hibernation, or don’t read or watch news (Fox doesn’t count), you’re probably aware the U.S. has an acute labor shortage, especially of the cheap labor so important to conservatives (see article here). This negatively impacts employers, because they can’t operate their businesses without workers, or make as much profit if they have to raise wages.
Even worse, things are trending against employers: America’s birth rate has declined below replacement rate, illegal border crossings are plunging (see story here), the labor participation rate is steadily declining (see chart here), and Covid-19 killed over a million Americans (who obviously won’t return to work). So where can you get more workers? The options are:
(1) Open the floodgates to immigration.
(2) Make women produce more babies, starting by outlawing abortion (the low-hanging fruit), then banning contraception (but not by encouraging interracial marriages or gay couples to get in-vitro fertilizations; even cheap-labor conservatives have limits).
(3) Shove women, old people, and children into the workforce; kids are especially attractive because they’re paid less and don’t join unions. You get women into the workforce by eliminating maternity leave, old people by eliminating social security, and kids with artful recruiting (see photo).
Republicans will never go for (1), but two out of three ain’t bad. And Arkansas’ innovative governor and legislature are getting a head start.
