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.
