- In about 1979, about 60% of teens held a job (age 16-19).
- This fell to 35% by 2019 and is now 27.5%.
- It appears that data is not collected for those under age 15.
If possible, I recommend most teens avoid jobs while going to school. Teens are better off investing in their education – it makes little sense to spend hours at minimum wage. When they have more skills, they will earn more.
Time spent on schoolwork can translate into AP/IB courses that give valuable credit for college classes, saving money on tuition later. Further, taking the right courses, doing well in them, and participating in other activities can translate into college scholarships. The $ payoff will be vastly larger than working at minimum wage.
I began working at age 10, mowing lawns and doing yard work in the neighborhood. By about age 15, I worked in a local retail store doing janitorial work and re-stocking. By 17, I worked in a hospital moving their rental TVs from room to room (in those days, not all rooms had TVs, they had to be paid for separately, and since there were fewer TVs than rooms, the TVs had to be moved to rooms where patients wished to rent a TV).
In my 2nd year in college, I got a job relevant to my major (computer science).
In retrospect, I missed out on most teen experiences. I did not participate in school activities, attend games or social events. I did attend a monthly, evening, computer-related Explorer Scout program sponsored by IBM – and I had a couple of hobbies. I also left high school one year early and went straight to college (I did not graduate from high school but do have B.S., M.S. and MBA degrees. I do not have a high school diploma.)
I also had to pay 100% of my own college tuition so working helped there of course.
Obviously, from the data, expectations for youth and work have changed between the 1970s and today. This is a positive step:
The research also shows that prioritizing education over early work experience can increase the prospects for good job outcomes later in life.
Why so few teenagers have jobs anymore (cnbc.com)
