Do you have any stats on how many children are actually dying in these ways, and whether it is in fact disproportionately hurting the poor?

I have a hard time believing many children are dying in this way in the US today but I'm happy to be wrong and learn something new if there is real data there.

Looks like the current stats are focused more on the 69% increase from '19 to '22 in illegally employed children across the US. [1] (https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20220729)

Actually, that report includes a few examples of children killed on the job. Like a 16 year old who died while working in construction, he fell about 160 feet to the ground after trying to jump from a roof to a nearby powered lift. In Nashville. [2] (same link as [1])

It also details the rise in children being employed to do hazardous labor.

Killed in sawmills is a bit of hyperbole, but it's not far off from the truth it seems.

That report basically includes a few anecdotes without data though, plus data that actually could go against the idea the regulations are the fix. If the stats are showing how many children are illegally employed it really has no basis on whether existing regulations or rollbacks made a difference, the employers and the kids weren't trying to follow the law.

You're absolutely right, it's not a report. It's a press release.

I did dig and found another news article about the anecdote included.

https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/nashville-family-advoca...

It looks like there is a discrepancy between State and Federal law, so the employers may indeed be acting in a twisted version of good faith. Despite the fact that Federal law supersedes state law. [2] https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/all-things-work/child...

I'm not implying regulations are the fix, I just think it's a little fucked up.