Terri Gerstein (’95), Director of the New York University Wagner Labor Initiative, contributed a commentary to Route Fifty pointing to a range of measures in her recent report that states can adopt to combat resurgent child labor (“How States Can Fight Child Labor,” Mar. 8). “This challenge is not like boiling the ocean or colonizing Jupiter. It’s achievable, but only if we increase both the likelihood that violators will be caught and the consequences when that happens. Our current system fails on both fronts. . . . Fortunately, a host of precedents in existing laws can be deployed to halt the distressing trend. . . . An arsenal of policies—not fantastical, pie-in-the-sky policies, but laws already in effect—could significantly heighten the consequences for employers, deter violations and help keep children safe.”
