A movement to weaken American child labor protections at the state level began in 2022. By June 2023, Arkansas, Iowa, New Jersey and New Hampshire had enacted this kind of legislation, and lawmakers in at least another eight states had introduced similar measures.
Instead of paying adults actual decent wages, pay children less for the same work! What could go wrong?
They read Upton Sinclair and decided it was a How To manual, not a warning.