Too young? New Arkansas bill allows 14 year olds to work

Prior to child labor laws being passed many American children, some as young as 7 years old were subject to unsanitary and unsafe work conditions, long hours, very little pay and no education. Today, children are protected from such work environments and are required to be at least 16 years old to work in most cases, with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). However things might be changing in Arkansas, as Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed the Youth Hiring Act of 2023 into law on March 6. This law would allow children as young as 14 to work in Arkansas without having to get an employment certificate. 

There have been mixed feelings about this new law which some say is effectively rolling back child labor laws. While others think it’s a positive step forward arguing that the overall decision should be left to parents and not the government. The ones in support of the law also highlight that these children would still be restricted to a certain amount of hours and also not allowed to work certain jobs. While these statements are reassuring to hear it still wouldnt be in the best interest of the children to be working at such a young age. Most college students know what it’s like to juggle school work with actual work on top of a social life but could a 14 year old be expected to do the same?  

When asked about whether or not a 14 year old would be able to handle the responsibility of having a job, Karina Lopez a third year english major said, “I don’t think that most 14 year olds really have an idea of what hard work really is so I don’t know if they really would be able to…” It’s true that most kids that age probably wouldn’t have the maturity to take on a job but what if they had to in order to help out their struggling parents. 

First-year Jonathan Bernal gave his thoughts, “If a child's parents are struggling to make ends meet then they should be allowed to work as long as their parents approve.” Obviously not every parent wants their child to work but if they have no other options, it's an easy answer. 

However, it would only be a temporary solution as Christopher Calvillo said, “It could be a slippery slope. What if they focus too much on work and not enough on school work.” A fair point, it would be difficult to get a child to focus on their homework if they just came home from a hard shift at work. 

Even though the Youth Hiring Act of 2023 doesn't force children to work in unsafe conditions for low wages and long hours it still feels to some degree like it might be turning back the clock on child labor laws that have already been passed. Children should be able to focus on being children without the stress of having a job while they still can. Trying to keep a job and study at such a young age would only bring unwelcomed stress to a developing child's life.