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Statement of Need: The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires the Secretary of Labor to issue regulations on the employment of minors between 14 and 16 years of age, ensuring that the periods and conditions of their employment do not interfere with their schooling, health, or well-being, and to designate occupations that are particularly hazardous for minors 16 and 17 years of age. Child Labor Regulation No. 3 sets forth the permissible industries and occupations in which 14- and 15-year-olds may be employed and specifies the number of hours in a day and in a week and time periods within a day that such minors may be employed. Updating the child labor regulations issued under the FLSA will help meet the challenge of ensuring good jobs that are safe, healthy, and fair for the Nation's working youth, while balancing their educational needs with job-related experiences that are safe. Updated child labor regulations that better address the safety needs of today's workplaces will ensure our young workers have permissible job opportunities that are safe, enhancing their opportunities to gain the skills to find and hold good jobs with the potential to increase their earnings over time. Ensuring safe and reasonable work hours for working youth will also ensure that top priority is given to their education, consistent with the purposes of the statute.

Summary of the Legal Basis: These regulations are issued pursuant to sections 3(1), 11, 12, and 13 of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. 203(1), 211, 121, and 213.

Alternatives: When developing regulatory alternatives in the analysis of recommendations of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in its 2002 report to the Department on the child labor hazardous occupations orders and other proposals, the Department has focused on assuring healthy, safe, and fair workplaces for young workers that are not detrimental to their education, as required by the statute. Some of the regulatory alternatives were developed based on recent legislative amendments.

Anticipated Costs and Benefits: Preliminary estimates of the anticipated costs and benefits of this rulemaking initiative indicated it was not economically significant. Benefits to the public, including employers and workers, will include safer working conditions and the avoidance of injuries and lost productivity involving young workers.

Risks: The Department’s child labor regulations, by ensuring that permissible job opportunities for working youth are safe and healthy and not detrimental to their education, produce positive benefits by reducing health-related and lost-productivity costs employers might otherwise incur from higher accident and injury rates to young and inexperienced workers. Because of the limited nature of the regulatory revisions contemplated under this initiative, a detailed assessment of the magnitude of risk was not prepared.