Jobs for 14 and 15 year olds: what the law lets you do, and when.
The jobs federal law allows at 14 and 15, the jobs it bans, the hours you can work and the exceptions for younger teens, from 29 CFR part 570, with links to every state's hour limits.
At 14 and 15, federal law lets you work in jobs such as office work, cashiering and selling, bagging and carrying out orders, shelving and price tagging, errands and deliveries on foot or by bike, clean-up and grounds work without power mowers, and kitchen and food-service work with limits on cooking; 15-year-olds can also be certified lifeguards (29 CFR 570.34). You can work up to 3 hours on a school day and 18 in a school week, 8 a day and 40 a week when school is out, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. (9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day).
Jobs federal law allows at 14 and 15
29 CFR 570.34 lists the only occupations open to 14- and 15-year-olds (paragraphs a to j shown; later paragraphs cover lifeguards, sports-attending and limited loading work).
| Paragraph | What the rule allows |
|---|---|
| (a) | Office and clerical work, including the operation of office machines. |
| (b) | Work of an intellectual or artistically creative nature such as, but not limited to, computer programming, the writing of software, teaching or performing as a tutor, serving as a peer counselor or teacher's assistant, singing, the playing of a musical instrument, and drawing, as long as such employment complies with all the other provisions contained in §§ 570.33 , 570.34 , and 570.35 . |
| (c) | Cooking with electric or gas grills which does not involve cooking over an open flame (Note: This provision does not authorize cooking with equipment such as rotisseries, broilers, pressurized equipment including fryolators, and cooking devices that operate at extremely high temperatures such as “Neico broilers”). |
| (d) | Cashiering, selling, modeling, art work, work in advertising departments, window trimming, and comparative shopping. |
| (e) | Price marking and tagging by hand or machine, assembling orders, packing, and shelving. |
| (f) | Bagging and carrying out customers' orders. |
| (g) | Errand and delivery work by foot, bicycle, and public transportation. |
| (h) | Clean up work, including the use of vacuum cleaners and floor waxers, and the maintenance of grounds, but not including the use of power-driven mowers, cutters, trimmers, edgers, or similar equipment. |
| (i) | Kitchen work and other work involved in preparing and serving food and beverages, including operating machines and devices used in performing such work. |
| (j) | Cleaning vegetables and fruits, and the wrapping, sealing, labeling, weighing, pricing, and stocking of items, including vegetables, fruits, and meats, when performed in areas physically separate from a freezer or meat cooler. |
Lifeguards (15 only): The employment of 15-year-olds (but not 14-year-olds) to perform permitted lifeguard duties at traditional swimming pools and water amusement parks (including such water park facilities as wave pools, lazy rivers, specialized activity areas that may include water falls and sprinkler areas, and baby pools; but not including the elevated areas of power-driven water slides) when such youth have been trained and certified by the American Red Cross, or a similar certifying organization, in aquatics and water safety. ( 2…
Jobs that are off-limits at 14 and 15
29 CFR 570.33, first sentence of each paragraph (the regulation says the list is not exhaustive).
| Paragraph | What the rule prohibits |
|---|---|
| (a) | Manufacturing, mining, or processing occupations, including occupations requiring the performance of any duties in work rooms or work places where goods are manufactured, mined or otherwise processed, except as permitted in § 570.34 of this subpart |
| (b) | Occupations that the Secretary of Labor may, pursuant to section 3(l) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, find and declare to be hazardous for the employment of minors between 16 and 18 years of age or detrimental to their health or well-being |
| (c) | Occupations that involve operating, tending, setting up, adjusting, cleaning, oiling, or repairing hoisting apparatus |
| (d) | Work performed in or about boiler or engine rooms or in connection with the maintenance or repair of the establishment, machines, or equipment |
| (e) | Occupations that involve operating, tending, setting up, adjusting, cleaning, oiling, or repairing any power-driven machinery, including but not limited to lawn mowers, golf carts, all-terrain vehicles, trimmers, cutters, weed-eaters, edgers, food slicers, foo… |
| (f) | The operation of motor vehicles; the service as helpers on such vehicles except those tasks permitted by § 570.34(k) ; and the riding on a motor vehicle, inside or outside of an enclosed passenger compartment, except as permitted by § 570.34(o) |
| (g) | Outside window washing that involves working from window sills, and all work requiring the use of ladders, scaffolds, or their substitutes |
| (h) | All baking and cooking activities except that cooking which is permitted by § 570.34(c) |
| (i) | Work in freezers and meat coolers and all work in the preparation of meats for sale except as permitted by § 570.34(j) . This section, however, does not prohibit the employment of 14- and 15-year-olds whose duties require them to occasionally enter freezers on… |
| (j) | Youth peddling, which entails the selling of goods or services to customers at locations other than the youth-employer's establishment, such as the customers' residences or places of business, or public places such as street corners and public transportation s… |
| (k) | Loading and unloading of goods or property onto or from motor vehicles, railroad cars, or conveyors, except the loading and unloading of personal non-power-driven hand tools, personal protective equipment, and personal items to and from motor vehicles as permi… |
| (l) | Catching and cooping of poultry in preparation for transport or for market |
| (m) | Public messenger service |
| (n) | Occupations in connection with: ( 1 ) Transportation of persons or property by rail, highway, air, water, pipeline, or other means; ( 2 ) Warehousing and storage; ( 3 ) Communications and public utilities; ( 4 ) Construction (including demolition and repair); … |
When 14- and 15-year-olds can work
| When | Per day | Per week |
|---|---|---|
| School in session | 3 hours | 18 hours |
| School not in session | 8 hours | 40 hours |
| Time of day | 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. | 9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day |
States can be stricter, and then the state limit applies. See teen work hours by state for every state's numbers.
Jobs open before 14
Federal child labor rules do not cover some work at any age: delivering newspapers to consumers, acting or performing in movies, theater, radio or TV, working for a business owned entirely by your parents (outside mining, manufacturing and hazardous jobs), and making evergreen wreaths at home (29 CFR 570.122–570.127). Babysitting and casual chores in private homes are generally outside the federal rules. Farm work has separate rules. State law may still apply.
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Questions people ask
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How this page is built
Rules come from 29 CFR part 570 as published in the eCFR (up to date as of Nov 2, 2026); job counts from the BLS Current Population Survey, 2025 annual averages. Read Nov 4, 2026.
- Your situation: work permits, school-year rules, and exceptions for graduates, family businesses, farm work, acting and work-study programs vary; this page is a summary, not legal advice.
- Stricter rule: where federal and state law differ, the employer must follow the stricter one; some employers are not covered by the federal law, and then state law alone applies.
- Questions: the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (1-866-487-9243) answers federal questions; your state labor office answers state ones.