That is fucked, but I think workers of all ages can be exploited. In my case, working a few different jobs from age 13 to 15 alerted me early to the exploitative behaviour of employers, and I've been very diligent in asserting my federal, state, and contractual rights in employment ever since, and to help and insist that co-workers do too.

In fact, I think this lesson is best learned by child workers, because at that age, the value of the lesson is high, and the potential stakes of asserting ones rights are low, EG as a child, if the child is sacked for asserting their rights, they only lose their pocket money. As an adult out in the wild, this could mean risking their income which pays for rent, family, bills, and other critical expenses.