> Allowing teens to willingly enter an employmemt contract is neither exploitive nor child labor.

Non-adult teens (“Teen” spans the border) are indeed children, and their labor – while in some circumstances, quantities, etc. – permitted, is regulated as part of the broader regulation of child labor (which is not a total ban, even for very young children, and is graduated by age.)

Whether it ought to be within the scope of acceptable child labor or not is a separate discussion, but it is child labor.