Prohibited Occupations

The child labor rules that apply to non-agricultural employment depend on the age of the young worker and the kind of job to be performed. 14 years old is the minimum age for non-agricultural employment covered by the FLSA. In addition to restrictions on hours, the Secretary of Labor has found that certain jobs are too hazardous for anyone under 18 years of age to perform. There are additional restrictions on where and in what jobs 14-and 15-year-olds can work. These rules must be followed unless one of the FLSA's child labor exemptions apply.

* A youth 18 years or older may perform any job, whether hazardous or not.

* A youth 16 or 17 years old may perform any non-hazardous job. (See the list of hazardous occupations below.)

* A youth 14 and 15 years old may not work in the manufacturing or mining industries, or in any hazardous job. (See the list of hazardous occupations below.) In addition, a 14- or 15-year-old may not work in the following occupations:

* Communications or public utilities jobs;
* Construction or repair jobs;
* Driving a motor vehicle or helping a driver;
* Manufacturing and mining occupations;
* Power-driven machinery or hoisting apparatus other than typical office machines;
* Processing occupations;
* Public messenger jobs;
* Transporting of persons or property;
* Workrooms where products are manufactured, mined or processed;
* Warehousing and storage.

A 14- or 15-year-old may work in retail stores, food service establishments and gasoline service stations. However, a 14- or 15-year-old may not perform the following jobs in the retail and service industries:

* Baking;
* Boiler or engine room work, whether in or about;
* Cooking, except with gas or electric grilles that do not involve cooking over an open flame and with deep fat fryers that are equipped with and utilize devices that automatically lower and raise the baskets in and out of the hot grease or oil;
* Freezers or meat coolers work;
* Loading or unloading goods on or off trucks, railcars or conveyors;
* Meat processing area work;
* Maintenance or repair of a building or its equipment;
* Operating, setting up, adjusting, cleaning, oiling, or repairing power-driven food slicers, grinders, choppers or cutters and bakery mixers;
* Outside window washing, or work standing on a window sill, ladder, scaffold or similar equipment;
* Warehouse work, except office and clerical work.






The jobs a 14- or 15-year-old may do in the retail and service industries include:

* Bagging and carrying out customer's orders;
* Cashiering, selling, modeling, art work, advertising, window trimming, or comparative shopping;
* Cleaning fruits and vegetables;
* Clean-up work and grounds maintenance - The young worker may use vacuums and floor waxers, but he or she cannot use power-driven mowers, cutters, and trimmers;
* Clean cooking equipment, including the filtering, transporting and dispensing of oil and grease, but only when the surfaces of the equipment and liquids do not exceed 100° F;
* Delivery work by foot, bicycle, or public transportation;
* Kitchen and other work in preparing and serving food and drinks, but not cooking or baking (see hazardous jobs);
* Office and clerical work;
* Pricing and tagging goods, assembling orders, packing, or shelving;
* Pumping gas, cleaning and polishing cars and trucks (but the young worker cannot repair cars, use garage lifting rack, or work in pits);
* Wrapping, weighing, pricing, stocking any goods as long as the young worker does not work where meat is being prepared and does not work in freezers or meat coolers.

Hazardous Occupations

18 is the minimum age for employment in non-agricultural occupations declared hazardous by the Secretary of Labor. The rules prohibiting working in hazardous occupations (HO) apply either on an industry basis, or on an occupational basis no matter what industry the job is in. Parents employing their own children are subject to these same rules. Some of these hazardous occupations have definitive exemptions. In addition, limited apprentice/student-learner exemptions apply to those occupations marked with an *.

These rules prohibit work in, or with the following:



HO 1.Manufacturing and storing of explosives.
HO 2.Driving a motor vehicle and being an outside helper on a motor vehicle.
HO 3.Coal mining.
HO 4.Logging and sawmilling.
HO 5.Power-driven woodworking machines.
HO 6.Exposure to radioactive substances.
HO 7. Power-driven hoisting apparatus.
HO 8. Power-driven metal-forming, punching, and shearing machines.
HO 9.Mining, other than coal mining.
HO 10.Meat packing or processing (including the use of power-driven meat slicing machines).
HO 11.Power-driven bakery machines.
HO 12.Power-driven paper product machines, including scrap paper balers and paper box compactors.
HO 13.Manufacturing brick, tile, and related products.
HO 14.Power-driven circular saws, band saws, and guillotine shears.
HO 15.Wrecking, demolition, and shipbreaking operations.
HO 16.Roofing operations and all work on or about a roof.
HO 17.Excavation operations.

What Jobs Can Youth Do?

When You Are 13 Or Younger . . .

You can deliver newspapers.
You can work as a baby-sitter.
You can work as an actor or performer in motion pictures, television, theater or radio.
You can work in a business solely owned or operated by your parents.
You can work on a farm owned or operated by your parents.

However, parents are prohibited from employing their children in manufacturing, mining, or any other occupation declared hazardous (listed below) by the Secretary of Labor.

More information on Exemptions from Child Labor Rules.

When You Turn 14 . . .

You also can work in an:

* office,
* grocery store,
* retail store,
* restaurant,
* movie theater,
* baseball park,
* amusement park, or
* gasoline service station.




You generally may not work in:

* communications or public utilities jobs,
* construction or repair jobs,
* driving a motor vehicle or helping a driver,
* manufacturing and mining occupations,
* power-driven machinery or hoisting apparatus other than typical office machines,
* processing occupations,
* public messenger jobs,
* transporting of persons or property,
* workrooms where products are manufactured, mined or processed, or
* warehousing and storage.


In addition, you may not work any other job or occupation declared hazardous (listed below) by the Secretary of Labor.

More information on Prohibited Occupations.

When You Turn 16 . . .

You can work in any job or occupation that has not been declared hazardous by the Secretary of Labor.

Hazardous Occupations

You generally may not work in any of the following hazardous occupations:

* manufacturing and storing of explosives,
* driving a motor vehicle and being an outside helper on a motor vehicle;
* coal mining,
* logging and sawmilling,
* power-driven woodworking machines,
* exposure to radioactive substances,
* power-driven hoisting apparatus,
* power-driven metal-forming, punching, and shearing machines,
* mining, other than coal mining,
* meat packing or processing (including the use of power-driven meat slicing machines),
* power-driven bakery machines,
* power-driven paper-product machines,
* manufacturing brick, tile, and related products,
* power-driven circular saws, band saws, and guillotine shears,
* wrecking, demolition, and shipbreaking operations,
* roofing operations and all work on or about a roof, or
* excavation operations.


There are some exemptions for apprentice/student-learner programs in some of these hazardous occupations.

More information on Prohibited Occupations.

When You Turn 18 . . .

You can work any job for any number of hours. The child labor rules no longer apply to you.

Top 5 Reason Why "YOU"th Should Vote

You live in a democracy and that means that you get a say in who runs your country, and by way of this privilege you also get a say about how your country is run. It is very easy to be blase about your right to vote and take a "whatever, who cares" kind of attitude about it but you shouldn't brush this great honor off so quickly. Sure registering can be a bit of a chore, and yes, you have to head down to a polling station on voting day to pull your lever which takes some time out of your day and may cost you a few bucks in gas, but whether you know it or not these are very small prices to pay for the right to vote. In some countries people are literally dying to be able to cast a ballot and make a difference. Here, we list five very good reasons that every eligible young person should get out and vote.

The youth vote is sadly underestimated by party analysts.
Yes, it is true, the trend analysts who tell party spindoctors where to target their advertising dollars and public relations efforts traditionally over-look the youth market. Why? Because the sad reality is that election year after election year the percentage of eligible youth who actually register and vote is small when compared with other demographics. This doesn't mean the youth market isn't a force, just that it isn't a main motivator in the drafting of campaign platforms and pre-election advertising. So, like any self-respecting rebellious young person the natural thing to do is go against the grain and do the unexpected. Keep them on their toes, shock them into the 21st century and get out and vote!

The biggest election issues often directly effect the youth of the nation.
The war in Iraq (young soldiers are the ones dying), education funding both public school and post-secondary, employment and job training programs, and reproductive rights issues are just a few of the current hot topics that directly effect the quality of your life RIGHT NOW. Think about the future and the world you will one day "inherit" from the power generation and you can add environmental concerns, fossil fuel consumption, farming and livestock funding (think the food supply is shrinking with every farm that can't sustain itself) and the list just gets longer. Add any issues that are near and dear to your heart on a personal level and the list becomes a little overwhelming. Don't vote and you effectively kiss away your ability to have any influence as to how these issues play out in your world, and dude, that's just lame.



The only way democracy works is if citizens, young and old, are active participants.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, this one is an oldy, but hey let's face it, it's also a goody. A government by the people, for the people just can't work without the people. This is a simple fact. Like a car without an engine, or a computer without a hard drive, a democracy without voters is just a shell and has no power. While it is easy to say "one vote doesn't make a difference" the reality is that every vote counts... have you heard of Florida? Also you have to remember that as an individual your vote may seem to be little more than a whisper but when your vote is combined with the votes of others who share your views it becomes a voice and the more like-voters there are the louder that voice grows. So get out there and make the youth vote be heard.

If you don't vote you really have no right to complain about government decisions you don't like (no matter how much they actually suck).
OK, if there is one thing that is really annoying to us actual voters it is the endless ramblings on the bad political policy of a current government spewing from the mouths of eligible voters who never bothered to cast a ballot. If you don't vote it is like saying you don't care how your country is run, so if you don't care where do you get the idea that you can complain when something happens that you don't like? If you don't vote you really have no right complaining about anything the government does and if your like most young people you like complaining and have it down to a fine art. Want the right to complain when TPTB (the powers that be) make a truly heinous decision? Then you must exercise your right to vote.

Bottom line: you should vote because you can.
Voting is a tremendous gift. Believe it or not, young people just like you in other countries actually fight and even die for this right; a right that so many youth in democratic nations take for granted. You should vote because you can, if you don't you may one day wake up in a country where you can't. It can (and has) happened. Enough said!

Ecological Footprint

The ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems. It compares human demand with planet Earth's ecological capacity to regenerate. It represents the amount of biologically productive land and sea area needed to regenerate the resources a human population consumes and to absorb and render harmless the corresponding waste. Using this assessment, it is possible to estimate how much of the Earth (or how many planet Earths) it would take to support humanity if everybody lived a given lifestyle. For 2005, humanity's total ecological footprint was estimated at 1.3 planet Earths - in other words, humanity uses ecological services 1.3 times as fast as Earth can renew them.Every year, this number is recalculated - with a three year lag due to the time it takes for the UN to collect and publish all the underlying statistics.

While the term ecological footprint is widely used,methods of measurement vary. However, calculation standards are now emerging to make results more comparable and consistent



I would like to encourage everyone to please follow this link (http://www.earthday.net/footprint/index.asp) and find out how much land you really take up. The average Ecological Footprint for our country is 24 acres per person. See if you can beat that! Significantly... please