DES MOINES, Iowa — A new proposal in the Iowa Legislature could bring some major changes to who is eligible to work in Iowa.
Under current Iowa law, teenagers are not allowed to work in places like mines or meatpacking plants.
Under Senate File 167, those industries would still be restricted, but Iowa Workforce Development and the Iowa Department of Education would be able to make exceptions, allowing teens 14 to 17 years old to participate in "work-based learning or a school or employer-administered, work-related program."
"There's plenty of opportunities to bag groceries at Hy-Vee, or whatever. But we don't need to be putting kids into dangerous occupations to solve a workforce crisis that adults need to be solving," said Charlie Wishman, President of the Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, which is opposing the bill.
Iowa's unemployment rate was down to just over 3% at the end of December, according to Iowa Workforce Development, but many Iowa employers are still reporting struggles to stay fully staffed. Jessica Dunker with the Iowa Restaurant Association, which is supporting SF167, said the bill could help businesses that lost many of their employees during COVID.
"It will help the workforce for us, it will allow us to hire some younger people to do some jobs they're fully capable of doing and provide and provide the opportunity make some pretty good money," Dunker said.
Dunker said that the majority of jobs the bills provide would be part-time positions that teens are ideal for, but critics argue using teens to fill employment gaps won't help address long-term workforce issues.
"We also need to make sure that they are going to pay people well, and that there's going to be benefits, like good health care and good retirement, and people will come. If the businesses in this state build it, people will come," Wishman said.
The Senate Workforce Subcommittee has a hearing on the bill Thursday at 11 a.m.