Minimum Age to Work in Oregon: Hours, Jobs, and Exceptions

The minimum age to work in Oregon is 14 for most jobs, though a few kinds of work are open to younger children and a few are closed off entirely until later. Once a minor is 14, an employer can’t put them on the schedule until the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) issues an annual employment certificate for that workplace.¹ From there, the rules on hours, breaks, and what tasks are allowed depend on whether the minor is 14–15 or 16–17.

Where Oregon rules and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act differ, the employer must follow whichever is more protective. Oregon usually wins on scheduling; federal law often controls on which occupations count as hazardous.

The Age 14 Baseline

Fourteen is the starting age for most non-agricultural work in Oregon: retail, food service, office jobs, and similar entry-level roles. The employer applies to BOLI for a validated employment certificate before the minor’s first shift, and no 14-to-17-year-old can legally start working until that certificate has been issued.¹ The certificate is good for one year and must be renewed annually. There’s no fee.²

Work That Falls Outside the Child Labor Rules

A handful of activities aren’t treated as employment under Oregon’s child labor statutes, so no age minimum or certificate applies:

Delivering or selling newspapers
Domestic work in private homes, like babysitting or mowing a neighbor’s lawn
Officiating or assistant-refereeing youth soccer

Children doing these jobs aren’t considered employees for purposes of the hour limits or hazardous-work bans described below.³

How Children Under 14 Can Work

Kids younger than 14 aren’t shut out completely, but their options are narrow and usually require a special Employment Permit from BOLI rather than the standard certificate.

Entertainment

Child actors, singers, and models can work at any age if the employer registers with BOLI’s Child Labor Unit. For productions of five working days or less, an annual entertainment registration can cover multiple projects, with 24-hour advance notice to BOLI each time a minor is used.⁴ Longer productions go through the standard certificate and under-14 permit process.

Hours are governed by their own rule. A performer aged 14 through 17 can be at the work location up to 11 hours per day, counting rest breaks, meals, and required schooling. Work must end by 10:00 p.m. on nights before a school day and by 12:30 a.m. otherwise, and every performer gets a 12-hour rest break between working days.⁵

Agriculture

Federal rules let children as young as 12 do farm work during non-school hours with written parental consent, or on a farm where a parent already works.⁶ These roles are usually hand-harvesting and sorting, not tasks with heavy machinery. Children working on a farm owned and operated by their own parents have the most flexibility, as long as the work isn’t hazardous.

A Parent’s Business

Oregon gives some room for children to work in a parent’s business. The duties have to stay non-hazardous, and the work can’t interfere with mandatory school attendance. This flexibility doesn’t reach corporations or partnerships where someone other than the child’s parent is an owner.

Hour Limits by Age

Ages 14 and 15

When school is in session, 14- and 15-year-olds can work up to three hours on a school day and eight hours on a non-school day, with a weekly cap of 18 hours. When school is out, the ceiling rises to eight hours per day and 40 hours per week. Between June 1 and Labor Day, all work must fall between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m.³

Ages 16 and 17

Older teens have far fewer scheduling limits. Oregon caps their work at 44 hours per week, with no daily hour limit and no time-of-day restrictions.⁷ There is no curfew for this age group under current BOLI guidance.³

Jobs Minors Can’t Do

Oregon bans dangerous work for minors, but two different lists apply depending on age.

Under 16

Oregon maintains its own list for children under 16. Prohibited tasks include wood cutting and sawing, well digging and drilling, and door-to-door sales or canvassing.⁸ The full list in OAR 839-021-0102 runs to dozens of items, covering power-driven equipment and work around certain chemicals.⁹

Ages 16 and 17

For older teens, Oregon adopts the federal hazardous occupation orders in 29 CFR 570.51 through 570.68. Those prohibit excavation, roofing, logging, manufacturing or handling explosives, most power-driven machinery, and about a dozen other high-risk fields.¹⁰

A narrow federal student-learner exemption lets a 16- or 17-year-old in a school-sponsored vocational program perform some otherwise-prohibited tasks. The work must be intermittent, directly supervised by a qualified adult, and part of an organized training curriculum, with a written agreement between the school and employer on file.

Pay: No Youth Subminimum in Oregon

Oregon does not allow a youth subminimum wage. Federal law permits employers to pay workers under 20 as little as $4.25 per hour for their first 90 days, but Oregon’s minimum is higher than the federal rate and applies equally to minors. Every worker in the state, regardless of age, must be paid at least the applicable Oregon minimum wage.

Oregon uses a three-tier minimum wage that adjusts each July 1 based on the Consumer Price Index: a standard rate for most of the state, a Portland metro rate $1.25 above standard, and a nonurban counties rate $1.00 below. BOLI publishes updated rates by April 30 each year.¹¹

Breaks

Break rules run slightly better for minors than for adults. Every employee under 18 gets a 15-minute paid rest break, rather than the 10-minute break adults get, for each four-hour work segment.¹²

Meal periods depend on age. A 14- or 15-year-old must always get a 30-minute unpaid meal break, with no exceptions, even in industries where adults can sometimes waive or shorten it. Employers of 16- and 17-year-olds can apply the same meal-period exceptions available to adult employees when the work requires it.¹²

1
Oregon Administrative Rules. OAR 839-021-0220 – Employment Certificates for the Employment of Minors 14 Through 17 Years of Age
2
State of Oregon. Employment Certificate Application
3
State of Oregon. Minor Workers
4
State of Oregon. Entertainment Registration Application
5
Oregon Administrative Rules. OAR 839-021-0335 – Working Hours of Minors Employed in the Entertainment Industry
6
U.S. Department of Labor. State Child Labor Laws Applicable to Agricultural Employment
7
Oregon Administrative Rules. OAR 839-021-0067 – Hours of Employment for Minors 16 and 17 Years of Age
8
Oregon Secretary of State. OAR 839-021-0097 – Prohibited Employment for Minors Under 16 Years of Age
9
Oregon Administrative Rules. OAR 839-021-0102 – Occupations and Types of Work Declared Hazardous for Minors Under 16 Years of Age
10
Oregon Administrative Rules. OAR 839-021-0104 – Occupations Particularly Hazardous or Detrimental to the Health and Well-Being of Minors 16 and 17 Years of Age
11
State of Oregon. Minimum Wage Increase Schedule
12
State of Oregon. Meals and Breaks