Is 13 too young to work? A Saskatchewan proposal has reignited debate around kids and labour

Saskatchewan residents are due to vote in a general election later this year and a business group in the province hopes the next government will lower the province's "absolute minimum" working age to 13 years old.

In a set of pre-election policy recommendations, the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce highlights challenges from a "labour shortage" in the province and suggests the existing age of 14 is too high.

It says lowering that limit by one year would strike "a balance between protecting youth and encouraging early labour force engagement."

The mere suggestion has reignited debate around how young is too young to have a job. It's also highlighted how complex child-labour laws are in Canada.

If Saskatchewan were to go this route — and to be clear, the current government says it has no plans to do so — it wouldn't put the province offside with existing rules in other parts of the country. Some provinces already allow 13 year olds to work, typically with significant restrictions on the types of labour they can do and the number of hours they can spend doing it.

What sets Saskatchewan apart in talking about lowering its "absolute minimum" working age from 14 to 13, however, is the way things are headed. Other provinces that have recently adjusted their child-labour laws have gone in the other direction.

"This idea in Saskatchewan of possibly lowering the age is really going against the trend we're seeing across the country of bolstering restrictions," said Sean Tucker, a professor of occupational health and safety at the University of Regina.

Each province and territory has its own set of laws and regulations and, often, exceptions to those laws and regulations.

For the most part, 16 is the age at which youth can work in most types of jobs, with some restrictions on dangerous occupations.

In some jurisdictions, though, kids as young as 12 are allowed to work under certain conditions.

An underlying principle to all child-labour laws in Canada is that, if kids work, it shouldn't interfere with their education.

This is often codified in regulations limiting the number of hours and the time of day (or night) that kids and teens can work while school is in session.

In Saskatchewan, as it stands, teens aged 14 or 15 who complete a Young Worker Readiness Certificate Course are allowed to work up to 16 hours during a school week but cannot work before classes begin on a school day or after 10 p.m. the night before a school day.

The laws are a little bit looser in Manitoba, where teens ages 13 to 15 who complete a similar course can work up to 20 hours during a school week, but they are barred from working between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.