Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Down with Child Labor Laws!

Jeff Tucker looks at the history of child labor laws and makes the case to end them in this interesting article:

Let's say you want your computer fixed or your software explained. You can shell out big bucks to the Geek Squad, or you can ask -- but you can't hire -- a typical teenager, or even a pre-teen. Their experience with computers and the online world is vastly superior to most people over the age of 30. From the point of view of online technology, it is the young who rule. And yet they are professionally powerless: They are forbidden by law from earning wages from their expertise.

Might these folks have something to offer the workplace? And might the young benefit from a bit of early work experience, too? Perhaps -- but we'll never know, thanks to antiquated federal, state, and local laws that make it a crime to hire a kid.

Read the rest of Jeff Tucker's article

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