U.S. Child Labor Laws are Child Abuse
by Wendy McElroy

When I was sixteen, I ran away from home and lived on the streets for as short a period of time as I could manage. I did not turn to prostitution or to drugs; I was lucky. Not in avoiding paid sex and substances -- these were deliberate choices. I was lucky to be sixteen and, so, able to legally support myself. If I had been two months younger, child labor laws would have forced me to beg or do far worse in order to survive.

Excellent article. This is why both child labor and minimum wage laws _hurt_ the very people they are supposed to help.