… to save for college:
Cook, now 63, started working at a young age, just 12 years old, to begin saving money, he told The Wall Street Journal on Sunday. “Throwing papers helped start my college education,” said Cook, who became the first member of his family to attend college.
I was doing neighborhood yard jobs by age 10 – by age 12 I was doing 6 to 9 yards per week during the summer.
One big change between then and now is there are more rules and limitations on youth employment.
In my state, youth under age 14 are generally prohibited from work – there are two exceptions: (1) baby sitting in a private home, and (2) newspaper delivery – a job that today no longer exists.
At age 14 and 15, youth can do some functions in a business – such as clear tables and wash dishes in a fast-food restaurant; however, they cannot do any cooking due to perceived hazards of, say, frying foods.
Not until age 16 are youth permitted to operate some power equipment – I think under our rules, a 16-year-old can run a power lawn mower (not positive but I think they can) but many other functions remain off limits.
All youth, including 14 year olds, must be paid the state’s minimum wage – which is about $16 per hour.
Consequently, the market for hiring teen workers is not very good compared to the past. Depending on the surveys, the % of teens who will hold a part-time job is half or less than what it was 30+ years ago. It’s hard to get exact numbers due to differences in surveys – some data lumps 16–19-year-olds together, some use 16-24 as the grouping of young workers, and some fail to distinguish between students who work while in school versus only work at summer jobs (up to 3x to 4x more teens may work during the summer than during the school year).
My view: If possible, most teens should not put effort into getting part time job. They should instead focus on schoolwork and apply for merit-based scholarship grants for college – which will be worth FAR MORE VALUE than their income from part-time jobs. They should also take advantage of experiences they will likely only have access to while in school – such as sports or extracurricular activities (band, robotics, science clubs, theater).
