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(Vancouver) A new study that surveyed public school students raises concerns that BC’s employment regulations are leaving children and
youth without adequate protections in the workplace.
“For many young people, paid work is a positive experience,” says Stephen McBride, lead author of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives study and a Professor of Political Science at Simon Fraser University. “But the survey responses indicate that in many cases, the regulations employers and parents are supposed to follow when hiring young workers are being ignored.”
“The findings related to children aged 12 to 14 are of particular concern,” says McBride. Of the surveyed 12 to 14 year-olds who have jobs:
- 70% reported they worked without supervision some or all of the time;
- Nearly half (48%) reported that their parents had not evaluated the health and safety of the workplace;
- More than half (58%) reported that their employer did not receive written approval from their parents.
Yet current employment regulations, introduced by the provincial government in 2003, require that children aged 12-14 be directly supervised by an adult at all times, and that employers have the written consent of one parent or guardian. According to the Ministry of
Labour and Citizens’ Services, the parent is responsible for ensuring safe and appropriate working conditions for their child.
“The province’s rationale for changing BC’s child labour rules, which used to require a permit from the Employment Standards Branch for
a child to be hired, was that the system wasn’t effective,” says McBride. “But this study tells us that the new rules aren’t even being
followed and that a significant number of children are being left vulnerable to harm.”
The study also finds that BC provides significantly less protection to child workers than other jurisdictions in Canada, the United States
and the European Union. In particular, allowing children as young as 12 to work with the permission of only one parent is contrary to the
International Labour Organization’s Convention on the Minimum Age.
In addition to questions about work age and conditions, the survey asked respondents about the $6/hour “first job/entry level wage,”
commonly referred to as the “training wage”:
- Nearly half of the employed youth had been paid less than the standard $8/hour minimum wage;
- Of those, 31% reported that they had not received any
training while on the job entry wage, and a further 29% reported they
had been trained only at the start.
“If training were necessary, it might provide some justification for paying a reduced wage,” says McBride. “But in practice, there is clearly little need for training in most jobs students obtain. It goes against the spirit of equal pay for work of equal value, and discriminates against youth.”
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Child and Youth Employment Standards: The Experience of Young Workers Under BC’s New Policy Regime is part of the Economic Security Project, a joint research initiative of the CCPA and Simon Fraser University, funded primarily by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).
For media inquiries, contact: media@policyalternatives.ca.
Attachments
Child and Youth Employment Standards: The Experience of Young Workers Under BC’s New Policy Regime
SUMMARY: Child and Youth Employment Standards
