“It’s important that young people have the opportunity to work without having to endure excessive government regulation,” they said in a statement asking other lawmakers to cosponsor the bill.

Seems like a really weak justification for child labor exploitation. Then the next paragraph states:

The bill continues to require employers to keep their own records of employees’ ages and hours worked, but without work permits verified by a state agency, companies caught violating child labor laws can more easily claim ignorance.

Ah. Protecting capital at the expense of labor. Again. Republicans really want to regress to a feudal society.

Anti-abortion so kids can work, huh?

We already have a stat on a 16-yo who are dying at work. Let’s sprinkle that down to even younger.

Then let 14 year olds vote already

Teens should be allowed to enter the workforce if they want. The issue is with exploitative parents who would force their children to work.

You say this like kids would be forced to work. I’m very liberal, but child labor laws shouldn’t exist except to make sure that 1) the kid actually consents to working and 2) the parents can’t take the kid’s money. I grew up in a household where my very Christian parents used not being able to legally work as a tool to keep me home and indoctrinate me. I was forcibly homeschooled, and work was my only interaction with other beliefs and political views, which couldn’t start until age 16 for me. Then when I could work, really short hour limitations kept me from affording a car.

My point is that children should not be forced to work by the parents, government, or economic situation - but they shouldn’t be forced to not work either. Especially for cases where the only way to get out of a toxic family situation is to leave at 18 - which isn’t always economically feasible because they can’t legally work enough.