Child Labor Laws Just Changed in Five States

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Child labor laws will change in five states in 2025, with Indiana and Illinois passing the most far-reaching of these new laws.

Why It Matters

New laws taking effect on January 1 in four states would crack down on companies using child labor laws or violating already-existing laws, while one state loosened its child labor laws. Several states have updated their child labor laws in recent years, with some Republican-leaning states moving to loosen these policies.

Proponents of tightening child labor laws argue children and teenagers shouldn't be focused on work and need stronger protections in the workplace to allow them to focus on things like school, extracurricular activities and socialization.

Critics of these laws, however, say that teenagers should be able to work more to earn more money, arguing that jobs will better prepare them for life after high school.

What To Know

A new law in Indiana will remove restrictions on the number of hours 16 and 17-year-olds can work, reported the South Bend Tribune. Children who are 14 and 15 years old will still be limited to working three hours on a school day and cannot start before 7 a.m. or 7 p.m. during the school year or 9 p.m. during the summer.

Illinois tightened its labor laws in an update to its current law from the 1930s. It includes new protections for minors working in entertainment or on social media. It also updates how schools issue a work certification for teenagers seeking a job.

It will require the issuing officer to consider the minor's health, welfare and education when assessing an employment certificate application, require that a minor's work permit include their school schedule and clarify the process for minors experiencing homelessness, according to a press release from the governor's office.

The law also prohibits minors from working more than 18 hours during a school week while increasing penalties for violations of the law.

It updates the list of workplaces where minors cannot work to include cannabis dispensaries, live adult entertainment businesses, gambling establishments and gun ranges, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Two states, Colorado and Virginia, passed laws that will give harsher penalties for companies found to violate already-existing child labor laws.

California also passed a new law requiring employers to publish any results of their child labor audits online in an effort to increase transparency about how these policies are being followed.

What People Are Saying

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, in a July statement after signing the bill: "While neighboring states weaken their child labor laws, in Illinois we're modernizing our regulatory framework to further protect minors from unscrupulous employers. Minors should be able to experience safe, age-appropriate work in an educational setting, and I'm proud of the added protections my administration and the General Assembly advanced through this bill."

Indiana State Senator Mike Gaskill, a Republican, to the Indiana Capital Chronicle in March: "Work is good. We're not doing this to solve the employer's problem. We're doing this to give kids opportunities."