Abstract
Children as young as 10 years old are hired to work on farms in the United States (U.S.). These children are largely Latinx. Using interview data collected from 202 North Carolina Latinx child farmworkers in 2017, this analysis documents the heath characteristics and occupational injuries of Latinx child farmworkers and delineates characteristics associated with their health and occupational injuries. Latinx child farmworkers include girls (37.6%) and boys (62.4%), aged 10 to 17 years, with 17.8% being migrant farmworkers. Three-quarters reported receiving medical and dental care in the past year. Respiratory (15.8%) and vision (20.3%) problems were prevalent. Girls more than boys, and younger more than older children had greater health service utilization. Occupational injuries were common, with 26.2% reporting a traumatic injury, 44.1% a dermatological injury, 42.6% a musculoskeletal injury, and 45.5% heat-related illness in the past year. Age increased the odds of reporting work injuries and heat-related illness, and being a non-migrant reduced the odds of reporting work injuries. These results emphasize the need for greater documentation of child farmworker occupational health and safety. They underscore the need to change occupational safety policy to ensure that children working in agriculture have the same protections as those working in all other U.S. industries.
Highlights
IntroductionCurrent U.S regulations allow children as young as 10 years of age to be hired to work on farms not operated by their relatives [1], as long as they are engaged in nonhazardous jobs outside of school hours with parental permission on small farms to which Fair Labor Standard Act minimum wage requirements do not apply
Children hired to work on farms in the United States (U.S.) constitute a vulnerable population [1].Current U.S regulations allow children as young as 10 years of age to be hired to work on farms not operated by their relatives [1], as long as they are engaged in nonhazardous jobs outside of school hours with parental permission on small farms to which Fair Labor Standard Act minimum wage requirements do not apply
The participants in this study report high rates of health service utilization, these children experience high rates of work injury, including traumatic, dermatological, and musculoskeletal injuries, and heat-related illness symptoms
Summary
Current U.S regulations allow children as young as 10 years of age to be hired to work on farms not operated by their relatives [1], as long as they are engaged in nonhazardous jobs outside of school hours with parental permission on small farms to which Fair Labor Standard Act minimum wage requirements do not apply. Children aged 12 or 13 years can hold any nonhazardous farm job outside school hours with parental permission or on the same farm on which a parent is working. Those aged or years can hold any nonhazardous farm job outside school hours. Public Health 2020, 17, 248; doi:10.3390/ijerph17010248 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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