Today, in the US, employee exploitation is nonexistent. It's that simple.

We are very connected now. How long would a company last today if they exploited their employees? Not long at all. They'd have trouble recruiting for sure. It'd be all over the web.

Social forces are far more powerful than any legislation.

The extreme case being murder.

Is it illegal to kill? Yes.

Do you go to prison for a long, long time? Yes.

Are there laws covering this from all angles? Yes.

Does government enforce them? Yes.

Do people still commit murder? Yup.

And here's the most important question:

Is the main reason for which people DO NOT commit murder the fact that there are laws prohibiting it (or laying out severe consequences IANAL)?

Nope.

I would be very surprised if any murder had been prevented as a result of someone intellectually reaching the conclusion that the consequences would be severe.

Yes, this is an extreme case. It simply illustrates the fact that laws don't prevent behavior. They punish it after the fact.

Do you speed on the highway? Why? The law says you are not allowed to. Why do you do it?

If you come right down to it laws and rules don't really do very well in the protection department. Look at the commandments and rules of behavior of the various religions. If you are a believer there is no higher power and yet they are broken all the time.

Laws don't protect anyone, they punish after the fact. Decent, moral and ethical people protect and enhance society.

Making the assumption that workers are protected by laws alone simply isn't sensible. Yet, nobody is proposing an environment devoid of any regulation. That's silly. The only idea here is that regulation needs to be sensible. That's all.

We all know people who are absolutely miserable at work. They have all the protections afforded to them through labor law and they are still miserable. And they don't leave. They stay. I've seen it multiple times. They are free to do as they wish and do nothing. Is the employer to blame? Of course not. And government can do nothing to make the employee happy.

I probably couldn't list everything that has changed in the last 100 years in the US in this regard. However, it is clear that exploitation is pretty much gone. I'd challenge anyone to name a reputable company that is actively engaged in exploiting it's employees in the US today.

I am sure someone is going to bring up some sleazy sweat shops in the garment district. Even there the employees have the ability to get the heck out and find work elsewhere. They can't, you say? They are undocumented immigrants? Well, that's not a labor law problem, is it then? That's an immigration problem. If people were not able to work without proof of citizenship or legal work status the sweat shops would not be able to enslave poor immigrants.

Yet you don't see those laws being passed, do you? Why? Almost anyone would agree it would be sensible. Why don't politicians pass these laws? Simple. They need the votes of those who want to see their relatives able to enter the US illegally. Here's a case of politicians hiding behind a "cause" for political gain while doing major damage to the very people they are supposed to want to help. They don't care about those poor immigrants that end-up working in sweat shops. They could not care less. They have their votes. Maim and move on.

So, on the one hand we have the government messing with Uber on the technicality of whether someone is a contractor or employee (which they should have zero involvement in) while, on the other hand, we have government utterly ignoring the situation of illegal immigration leading to exploitation due to the lack of job mobility. And, BTW, it is often culturally isolated immigrants who exploit other immigrants. Anyone who has assimilated into our culture, morals, ethics and social conventions would not do that unless they were criminals.

Ironically the lack of job mobility of illegal immigrants actually proves the value of a free market. They, through the failure of our government to address the issue, live within a framework that prevents them from participating in the free market for jobs. They are devoid of the job mobility enjoyed by legal workers (citizens or not). People in the free market can leave bad job situations or not take the job in the first place based on company reputation, yet the unfortunate situation of the illegal immigrants is that our government, through inaction, pretty much sets them up for abuse.

Interesting the twists and turns things can take when you look at them from multiple angles.