Well, first of all, you're using the phrase "youth employment," which I think is reasonable and fairly normal. The author used the phrase "child labor," which I rolled my eyes at because the author is seemingly oblivious to the negative connotation of that phrase.
Second, I'm not even necessarily in favor of a minimum wage. I just think it's bogus to blame our current economic woes on the existence of minimum wage. It's a bogeyman that the right attacks at every opportunity, whether it makes sense or not.
Edit: Also, you haven't provided any evidence supporting the claim that we don't have movie ushers because of minimum wage or labor laws. You've just provided ideological conjecture and arbitrarily placed the burden of proof on me.
Right, it's legally "child labor." But would you use that phrase in normal conversation as though it doesn't have an uncomfortable, negative connotation?
If I were referring to child labor laws in a blog post, as he was, probably. If I come up with some weasel words for them, anyone paying attention will pounce on that, suspecting my "real" agenda is to put orphans dressed in rags on treadmills.
This is kind of my point. I rolled my eyes when the author complained about "Laws... regulating child labor." You said, "child labor laws," which I would argue has a significantly different meaning than the authors phrase. But I'm comfortably agreeing to disagree on the connotation.
Perhaps I would have understood the author's point more had he even bothered to explain what laws regulating child labor he was talking about and why they're a problem. Instead, he just skipped that and focused on minimum wage.
Second, I'm not even necessarily in favor of a minimum wage. I just think it's bogus to blame our current economic woes on the existence of minimum wage. It's a bogeyman that the right attacks at every opportunity, whether it makes sense or not.
Edit: Also, you haven't provided any evidence supporting the claim that we don't have movie ushers because of minimum wage or labor laws. You've just provided ideological conjecture and arbitrarily placed the burden of proof on me.