This is the first time I've encountered such extreme and immovable opinions on Lemmy. It's wild to me that people who are (presumably) trying to support social justice for minors cannot even acknowledge that teenagers sometimes need and would prefer to work - that it's a separate issue from child abuse and strict authoritarian prohibition over their labor is itself abusive.

Don't people understand that a 17 year old can have a baby and need a job?

They won't even entertain the possibility and defend an actual policy position. It's devoid of social responsibility.

If they are genuinely socialist or communist, then how can they defend stripping 14-18 year olds of their natural right to profit from their own labor? It's just as bad as a capitalist exploiting that labor with unlivable wages - they are essentially condemning these people to $0 in wages and total state dependence.