I think the most beneficial labour law is minimum wage. Economically it is obviously not the most efficient, but it safeguards against situations -- like those in certain third world countries -- where people are exploited into wages that are essentially impossible to survive on. Sure you may argue that it's better than nothing, but I think given free reign it's vastly less preferable than a minimum wage.
Another example is child labour laws.
Although I can understand people emotionally wanting such laws, they actually make the situation worse.
Let's take the third world countries and minimum wage laws. The first thing you have to realize is that there is a lot of corruption and government intervention in these countries. The second thing you then have to realize is, like all places in the world, economic law operates the same way. The price of your labour is tied to the supply/demand for such labour, and the productivity of your labour. If there is a high supply of labour, minimum wage laws are going to increase unemployment. So let's say there are 10,000 people wanting a job, at a potentially lower price than the minimum wage, but only 1,000 jobs available. 9,000 people will be left jobless. However if there was no minimum wage, of if the minimum wage was lower, businesses might be inclined to hire more people at a lower price, so now you get more people having jobs. You might talk about how can they live on such a wage, but this is an absurd statement, you would rather people live on no wage than a measly wage? You also don't respect the fact that you gain experience and skills working in low-pay jobs that allow you in future to have access to higher paying jobs. This opportunity being denied promotes poverty in the long-term. Furthermore, who are the people most likely to be in the 9,000 that don't get jobs? Those that don't know the employers, typically those with less influential parents, ie the poor. Also those with no skills in the first place, most likely the poor since they come from bad schools, a consequence of government education, bad families, a consequence of government intervention, and so they are trapped in a cycle of poverty and lower class. Far from making it easier for them, you are making it more difficult for these people. You do-gooders seem not to realize this, so the best thing to do is go to a look at some poor people and ask yourself do your ideas promote this, and have a good hard think about the consequences of modern-day policies. You are playing with real peoples lives, so at least have the decency to critically evaluate your position which requires a degree of understanding in economics. I'm not saying you haven't done this, nor am I saying you don't care, but far too many people actually promote the problem they proclaim to fight against.
As for child labour, yes it sucks when you see children being forced to work while you see kids in our countries playing on swings. The answer however is not to say sorry you can't work. They work for money, and no matter how insignificant that money is, it is something that they wouldn't have otherwise had. These sweatshop factories give employment to people that wouldn't otherwise have employment. These businesses are doing far more than you in helping these children through their 'exploitation' of children than most people. All this also ignores the fact that it is largely government that doesn't let businesses from around the world to set up shop and take advantage of the cheap labour in these countries. When you increase demand of these workers you'll bid up the cost of labour and these people will get a better wage, it may not be fantastic, but it will be higher. Government says no to this, look where the common cause of all these problems are.
Minimum wage safeguards against nothing, it promotes youth unemployment, it promotes intergenerational poverty, it promotes the inequitable distribution of income/wealth, it reduces the life chances of the least disadvantaged, it increases cost of production raising cost of living, it decreases quality of service (since presumably more people working at x company ought to mean a higher quality or more efficient service), etc etc etc. Youth unemployment is the big one, what good is a minimum wage of say $10, when a company would be willing to hire me, but only for $8. What good is a minimum wage to that person? The standard response is those people that are earning the $10, but remember, that is at the expense of many more that would at least had a job but just at a lower wage.
