There is no federal law nor mandate regarding work permits for youth, but child labor laws and rules limit how many hours adolescent youth can work in a day, along with when a youth can work, and in which jobs a youth can work. These rules vary depending on the youth’s age and states also have different rules and regulations.

Employers are allowed to pay a minimum wage of USD 4.25 an hour to employees who are under twenty years of age during the first ninety consecutive calendar days after initial employment. While the law contains certain protections for these youth employees and also prohibits employers from displacing any current employee in order to hire someone at the youth minimum wage, very few are willing to work for such low wages.

Youth commonly hold minimum wage jobs and because this wage has been stuck at USD 7.25 per hour in many states, there is not much economic mobility for them without higher education.  The higher end of the minimum wage in states such as California, Washington, and Oregon is between USD 13.50 and USD 15.00/hour. For the Baby Boomer generation, it was more feasible to be able to live on the minimum wage, while it is not a livable wage for young people today. This shift has created a dynamic of misunderstanding between generations that has resulted in many political battles.