Florida lawmakers are considering easing child labor laws across the state to address the issue left by the loss of migrant workers.
The situation comes as the state has been working for years to crack down on employers that continue to hire undocumented immigrants to their workforce. However, those efforts have now resulted in an entirely different problem for businesses, which have become desperate for workers in low-wage and typically undesirable positions.
Florida's Child Labor Laws
To address the issue at hand, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state legislature proposed a solution: children. On Tuesday, officials advanced a bill that aims to loosen child labor laws in the state to allow kids as young as 14 years old to work overnight shifts.
If the new law passes, then teenagers will be allowed to work overnight jobs even on school days. Under current laws, they are not allowed to work earlier than 6:30 a.m. or later than 11:00 p.m. even if they wanted to, according to CNN.
On Tuesday, the proposed bill passed through the Florida Senate's Commerce and Tourism Committee with five votes in favor of easing restrictions regarding child labor. There were four votes against it.
Before the bill is put to a vote with the full Florida Senate, it will first have to pass through two other relevant committees. The state governor has been vocal about his support of the proposal as well as cracking down on immigration. This is despite economists issuing warnings that it could backfire on him and lead to inflation and labor shortages.
The proposal comes as state officials have been handing out penalties to employers who decide to hire undocumented workers. This has resulted in businesses struggling to fill out some of their other positions, the Independent reported.
Making up for the Loss of Migrant Workers
It also comes as a panel discussion last week had DeSantis saying that there should be no need to import foreigners when there are teenagers and college students who can take their jobs.
The governor noted that new laws that have been implemented have forced illegal immigrants to leave their jobs. DeSantis argues that these could be filled by hiring other people, saying that the U.S. should expect younger people to be working part-time.
The proposed bill is sponsored by Sen. Jay Collins, who has not yet provided any information or details about why the proposal is necessary. On the other hand, Nina Mast, an analyst with the Economic Policy Institute, expressed her concerns about the new bill.
She said that the change to the state's child labor laws could put many individuals at risk of having fewer protections. Mast added that the proposal could lead to them having a harder time saying no to employers, as per the Miami Herald.
