How Florida Restaurateurs Can Stay on Top of Human Trafficking Issues

2 Min Read By Kim Gore

Human trafficking is a global problem that has only worsened since the pandemic.

Though the stereotypes around the crime portray women – often girls and children – as victims, with sex the end goal, forced labor is on the rise and men and boys are increasingly the victims. 

Moreover, where it’s most hidden is in the hospitality and restaurant industries. A Northeastern University study found 12 percent of labor trafficking cases took place in the hospitality industry; 12 percent of suspected perpetrators had exploited others in restaurants, using force, fraud or coercion to intimidate people to work under exploitative and illegal conditions.

The victims are inevitably migrant workers and the economically disadvantaged. Florida has both, along with a booming hospitality industry thanks to the tourism trade. That has helped to make it the state with the third greatest number of reported sex trafficking cases, and ranked 12th regarding cases of human…