A 12 year old can get a job, but only in a narrow set of categories that federal law treats differently from regular employment. The Fair Labor Standards Act sets 14 as the minimum age for most non-agricultural work, so retail stores, restaurants, and offices are off the table. What remains is real, though: babysitting, newspaper delivery, yard work, acting, certain farm jobs, and any work in a business a parent fully owns.
Jobs a 12-Year-Old Can Legally Do
Federal law recognizes a short list of work that falls outside the FLSA’s coverage or is specifically exempted from its child labor rules. For a 12-year-old, these are the legitimate options:
- Casual babysitting for neighbors or family friends on an informal basis.
- Newspaper delivery directly to consumers.
- Acting or performing in movies, television, radio, or theater.
- Minor chores around private homes, such as raking leaves, yard work, or shoveling snow.
These categories share a common thread. The work is informal, low-risk, and typically doesn’t involve a traditional employer-employee relationship. That’s why the federal government treats them differently from a job at a store or restaurant.
Farm Work at 12 and 13
Agriculture is the one area where federal law explicitly allows 12- and 13-year-olds to work for an outside employer. Under the FLSA’s agricultural rules, a child this age can work on a farm outside school hours in non-hazardous jobs if one of two conditions is met: the child has written parental consent, or a parent is already employed on the same farm.
Small farms have looser rules. A farm that used fewer than 500 “man-days” of labor in any calendar quarter of the previous year qualifies as a small farm, where a “man-day” is any day a worker put in at least one hour. Small farms meeting that threshold can hire children under 12 for non-hazardous work outside school hours with parental permission.
Certain farm tasks are barred for anyone under 16 regardless of employer size. That includes operating a tractor above a certain horsepower, working in a confined space like a silo, and handling certain chemicals. The one place these limits don’t apply is a farm owned or operated by the child’s parents; on a parent’s farm, children of any age may perform any task.
Working in a Parent’s Business
A child of any age can work in a business entirely owned by their parents. This is one of the broadest exemptions in federal child labor law. Two hard limits apply: no one under 16 can work in mining or manufacturing, and no one under 18 can perform a job the Department of Labor has declared hazardous.
Outside those boundaries, a 12-year-old helping at a parent’s shop, farm stand, or service business faces no federal hour or scheduling restrictions. The exemption only applies when the parent is the sole owner. If the business is a corporation or has outside partners, the standard age rules come back into play.
Acting and Content Creation
The FLSA’s performing exemption has no minimum age. A 12-year-old cast in a movie, television show, radio production, or theater piece works under an exemption that predates the internet and applies regardless of age.
Roughly a dozen states have adopted versions of the Coogan Law, which requires that at least 15 percent of a child performer’s gross earnings be deposited into a blocked trust account the child cannot access until turning 18. The law exists because young performers historically had their earnings spent by parents or managers before they reached adulthood.
Social media is a newer question. A growing number of states have passed laws protecting child influencers and content creators, requiring parents who monetize videos featuring their children to set aside a share of the earnings in trust. Some of those laws also let the child request removal of the content after turning 18. No federal law currently addresses child content creators, so protection depends on where you live.
Work Permits and Parental Consent
Many states require minors to get a work permit or employment certificate before starting a job. The process usually involves proof of age and parental consent, and some states also require a school official’s signature or a statement of physical fitness. The permit itself typically spells out what duties the minor can perform, where, and during what hours.
For a 12-year-old, permits mainly come up around agricultural jobs or acting work, since those are the formal employment settings available at this age. Casual babysitting and neighborhood chores don’t require permits. Requirements vary quite a bit from state to state, so check with your state’s labor department before starting.
Taxes on What a 12-Year-Old Earns
Money a 12-year-old earns is generally subject to federal income tax, though most young workers earn too little to owe anything after the standard deduction. How the income gets reported depends on the arrangement.
For babysitting, yard work, and other informal jobs, the child is typically considered self-employed. No employer withholds anything, and the child (or a parent filing on their behalf) reports the income on a tax return if it clears the filing threshold.
For a child working in a parent’s sole proprietorship, or a partnership where both partners are the child’s parents, wages are exempt from Social Security and Medicare taxes until the child turns 18. The parent can also deduct those wages as a business expense, which makes this one of the more tax-efficient ways for a family business to pay a child for real work.
What Opens Up at 14
Turning 14 changes the picture considerably. At that point, employers in retail, food service, and other non-manufacturing, non-hazardous industries can legally hire a young worker. Federal scheduling limits still apply to 14- and 15-year-olds in non-agricultural jobs:
- Up to 3 hours of work on a school day.
- Up to 18 hours in a school week.
- Up to 8 hours on a non-school day.
- Up to 40 hours in a non-school week.
- No work before 7:00 a.m. or after 7:00 p.m., except from June 1 through Labor Day, when the evening cutoff extends to 9:00 p.m.
All work must fall outside school hours. These federal rules set the floor, and state laws often impose tighter limits. A 12-year-old planning ahead should know these restrictions exist, because they’ll shape what a first regular job looks like in a couple of years.
Anyone under 18, at any age, is barred from jobs the Department of Labor has declared hazardous. That ban applies everywhere except a parent-owned farm, and it includes work like explosives manufacturing, coal mining, logging, roofing, excavation, and operating power-driven woodworking or metalworking machines, forklifts, or commercial bakery equipment.