Protecting Young Workers

摘要

Every year, a large and vulnerable population of workers enters the American workforce for the first time. Perhaps one of them served you lunch last summer on your vacation. Maybe you encountered one ringing up your purchases on your last shopping spree. You are most likely to find them working in a retail environment, with the most common job descriptions being cashier and cook. They tend to be more visible and active during the summer months, but you can find them all year-round. They are America's teenage workers. Whether they are entering the workforce for the first time or have been working steadily since they reached the federal legal work age of 14, their youth and relative inexperience makes teenage employees one of the nation's most vulnerable classes of workers. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, teenage workers have a higher rate of injury than their adult counterparts in similar jobs. In 1998 alone, 77,000 teens were treated for work-related injuries and illnesses in hospital emergency rooms.