Pros and Downsides of Teenager Part-Time Employment

Source:jobs for 15 year olds

You may be amazed that many teens have part-time jobs. Some could have jobs as "baby sitters" (Check out:babysitting for 15 year old jobs), work for their family's businesses or do lawn services. Many work for employers in retail store, fast-food and in other ventures. Based on the August, 2011, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Dept. Of Labor, 25.4% of teens, age groups 16 to 19 held part-time or fully committed work. With regards to 10% of 15 year olds worked and predictably, this quantity raises with age, specific to the laws established for child labour. The minimal age for non-agricultural job is 16. However, 14 and 15-year-olds may be employed for specific periods, outside of school hours, in jobs that do not interfere with their health and well-being. Teenagers 16 and older may work at any time of the day for limitless hours. The percentage of working teens increase during the summertime, and more would work if the jobs were available during this current, poor job market. (Read more:15 year olds in summer)

In 2008, I carried out an anonymous questionnaire on teenagers in high school and in university freshmen classes. Among other information sought, were questions on their work experience as teenagers. Lets look at my findings reported by high school and first-year university students, comprising 178 high school and 155 college students. For the first year college students, six out of ten students (60%) indicated they had part-time employment during their high school years, with a slightly greater percent of males compared to females recalling work experiences. Very lazy teenagers? I don't think so. The data speaks for itself.

The questions for high school students were different, in that I further discovered how many hours worked a week; (1) 10 hours or less; (2) 11 to 15 hours; (3) 16 to 20 hours and (4) 21 hours or more.

First lets look at the percentage of high school students who worked part-time jobs. Males: 50%; Females: 25%; Total Sample: 38%

Now let's take a look at how many hours the high school students work. Males: 1. 52%; 2. 23%; 3. 11% 4. 14%

Females: 1. 78%; 2. 18%; 3. 4%; 4. 0%

Undoubtedly, one can possibly surmise that males worked part-time jobs at a greater percentage compared to females, and in addition worked longer hours. There appeared to be no clear pattern as teens progressed from freshman to senior status in the number of hours worked, except for slight acceleration in hours for females. Contemporary teenagers are not lazy.

(More info:16 year old jobs)

 Negatives for part-time teenager workers: 

Many studies have been done to discover the negative effects of part-time work on teens. Some findings reported increased behavioral issues, insufficient sleep, not enough leisure, propensity toward drug use, declines in school performance, plus increased psychological distress. Researching consistently reported a relationship between the number of hours worked and disadvantages to the teen. The more hours per week a teenager works above ten hours per week, the greater the perils for teens.

 Advantages for part-time teen workers: 

The benefits reported might be factors such as greater interest in school, less delinquency, increase in internal motivation, development of work values, adult supervision (often with both parents working, the part-time job affords the teen supervision), and less depression.

 Conclusion: 

Look around you whenever you when you go to the shopping center, the grocery store, the car wash, the movie theater, the restaurants, and other venues; and you may observe teens working. We should monitor the positive and negative effects of teen employment.

Additional info:summer jobs