Scott Maxwell of the Orlando Sentinel nailed it in his column published today, and I urge you to read it: Scott Maxwell, Florida Values? Put minors to work., Orlando Sentinel, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, at 3 (may be behind the Sentinel's paywall).
Here are two takeaways from a column which has many of them:
- Businesses want you to believe that they are touting child labor because they want children to learn the value of work (and not because they, the businesses, are too cheap to hire workers at paying wages or to provide safer working conditions). Moms and dads, as Maxwell points out, want their children to know the value of work but they are not the ones who are clamoring for ineffective child labor laws.
- State legislatures in Iowa and now in Florida are changing the market. They are putting a thumb on the scale in favor of employers and against employees. If the market were allowed to develop in a capitalist economy, it would require employers to fill their labor shortages by paying a living wage or by making workplaces safer and more accommodating to people working there, not by having state legislators intervene in the market and exploit child labor.
Read Scott Maxwell's column today. It's good.
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