Even before the Occupational Safety and Health Administration told me I could legally work at age 14, I had a few jobs. Those few jobs were babysitting neighbors’ kids or grandkids, usually just a few doors from my childhood home.

The pay was a whopping 50 cents an hour, and it didn’t matter if you were watching one or three children. I didn’t question the pay scale. At 12 or 13, those babysitting dollars bought me a few Teen Beat magazines and a Milkshake candy bar at the corner drugstore.

At 15, I joined the hundreds of teens in the Ohio Valley who found summer work at the local parks — specifically Oglebay and Wheeling parks. The jobs weren’t glamorous unless you were a trained and certified lifeguard who could twirl a whistle with the best in their field.

Most jobs included working at the swimming pools, lakeside, golf courses and concession stands. Again the pay was meager but enough to buy those new bell-bottom jeans from the Lerner Shop.

In high school, I and others in my class, worked at local downtown department stores, women’s specialty shops including Horne’s of Wheeling, Stone and Thomas and L.S. Good and Co. Others found work at local restaurants. These jobs taught us an important skill that we could use throughout our lives — dealing with the public.

All of these youth-oriented jobs evolved over the years to the point that OSHA took note of safety concerns and instituted some strict regulations regarding young workers. Technically, 18 year-olds have unrestricted access to all jobs.

However if you are 14 to 15 years old, your employment opportunities are restricted to non-hazardous jobs such as office work, bagging groceries, cleaning jobs that do not involve mowers, cutters and trimmers. You can pump gas, work in limited food preparation and serving or delivery work via bicycle, walking or public transportation.

For 16- to 17-year-olds, only jobs deemed non-hazardous by the Secretary of Labor are permitted by law. That means at that age, you cannot work in construction, mining or door-to-door sales, or warehousing. You can work in a kitchen, but you cannot cook on anything with open flames or operate automated deep fryers, food slicers, choppers or industrial mixers.

While the laws were put in place to protect inexperienced young people, some of the regulations have resulted in the inability of businesses to hire. Everywhere you look, the help wanted signs can be seen. Business owners are frustrated. Customers are frustrated.

I agree young and older workers need some oversight for safety reasons. But it must be frustrating for the younger crowd who can only earn enough to buy one shoe, not a pair. And it’s even more challenging for those seeking workers.

Heather Ziegler can be reached via email at hziegler@theintelligencer.net.