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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2024 Jan 17.
Published in final edited form as: J Adolesc Res. 2022 Dec 21;38(6):1142–1176. doi: 10.1177/07435584221144956

Table 1.

Employment permitted by federal regulations for children in the US, comparing agriculture with other industries. Within agriculture, none of the rules listed apply to children working at a farm owned or operated by their parents.

Ages Rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938)a
Agriculture Non-Agriculture
16–17 Any farm job, hazardous or not, unlimited hours Unlimited hours in non-hazardous jobs or industries
14–15 Any non-hazardous farm job outside school hours Specified jobs for limited periods of time each day and each week, outside of school hours
12–13 Any non-hazardous farm job outside school hours with parental permission or on same farm as parent(s) Employment generally prohibited
Under 12 Any non-hazardous farm job outside school hours with parental permission, but only where FLSA minimum wage requirements do not apply (i.e., small farms) Employment generally prohibited

Note. Within agriculture, none of the rules listed apply to children working at a farm owned or operated by their parents.