Children for Hire—The Perils of Child Labor in the United States

Levine (industrial relations, U. of Maryland) has written a gripping study of the prevalence of child labor in the US today, its laws, risks, and the lack of enforcement of child labor laws. Describing evidence of child labor in several contexts, including sweatshops, agriculture, and industry, Levine focuses on issues that include ineffective and outdated child labor laws, health and safety risks, the role of physicians in treating children, dropout rates from school, methods for including state and federal data collection, and specific aspects of agricultural labor that lead to injury. Annotation (c) Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

MARVIN J. LEVINE is Professor of Industrial Relations, Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland. He is the author or coauthor of ten earlier books, including Worker's Rights and Labor Standards in Asia's Four New Tigers.