Summertime! Last day of school! Graduation parties! Cookouts! Camping! What a great time to be a young teen enjoying the roller coaster rush into summer.
Getting that first paid job is a summer rite of passage. It’s been an age-old ritual for many teens to impatiently wait to work until they’re issued a driver’s license at 16.
But no worries, Iowa is fixing that problem. A new law permitting them to legally drive to their jobs when they’re as young as 14 1/2 years old means they can go to even greater lengths to solve Iowa’s worker shortage. Gov. Kim Reynolds signed it on May 17.
In 2022, a new law enabled 16- and 17-year-olds to care for kids at child care centers without direct supervision. Last year, the governor signed a law allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to obtain an exemption to work at jobs including excavation, demolition and roofing as part of an employer training or school work-study. Teens over age 16 also would be permitted to sell and serve alcohol as long as the restaurant kitchen remains open. Expanded work hours for 14- and 15-year-olds also lets them work until 11 p.m. in the summer, 9 p.m. during the school year, and up to six hours on a school day. (Iowa’s state law doesn’t comply with federal law, creating a gray area for employers.)
But these laws weren’t enough. A new law was needed so that younger Iowa teens could legally drive to these new fields of opportunity. Legislators justified their votes on the premise of helping minors develop skills in the workforce. The governor stated that “opportunities to earn and save to build a better life should be available” to young adults.
Few would disagree about the value of developing a good work ethic. My sister and I rose in the dark mornings (before the era of daylight saving time) so that Dad could drive us two miles to the closest town, where we boarded a cattle truck with other teen girls seated on makeshift benches around the perimeter, huddling beneath blankets in the cool morning air. Our destination? Detasseling hybrid seed corn for Garst & Thomas. It didn’t last the entire summer, so we had time for swimming lessons and the 4-H county fair.
Our farm family wasn’t well-to-do, but my three siblings and I didn’t need money for a cell phone, or a car that we weren’t old enough to drive. Year later, my own kids had plenty of time for swimming, 4-H, and softball. They found summer jobs after they were 16. Their work ethic didn’t suffer.
