Alot of people posted what their first jobs were.
But what about today? I just do not see alot of teenagers working. It’s not that they are lazy, I think it’s because of the demands of school and activities.
What do you all think?
Moderator Action
Since this is asking for opinions and personal experience, let’s move it to IMHO.
Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion.
A lot of teens aren’t working because adults are working the jobs teens typically do.
'Round these parts, it’s because all the jobs have been taken by Mexicans.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/08/29/200769/teen-employment-hits-record-lows.html
Several statistics in that article. ~40% of teens had a job last summer, down from >50% in '99.
When I was in my senior year of high school I had a weekend job, an internship during the school week that was about 15 hours a week, I participated in my school’s annual fashion show which actually took 3-4 months of work to set up and I went to school, slept, ate, etc.
My cousin who is 7 years younger is currently a senior and does school and tennis. She quit her part time job because it was too much. So either school is a lot harder these days and tennis is very, very demanding or she’s a weenie. Or maybe her parents made her quit- my aunt is pretty overbearing. Who knows. She’s pretty much the only teenager I know, so I can’t comment over all.
However, I do think learning how to function in a job is as important as book learning, so I do think it’s important to do some sort of work at least during college if working during high school is not possible.
And yes, the job market may be a factor too- adults are working many minimum wage jobs that people stereotypically associate with teens.
My daughter is a senior, and she and all of her friends have jobs. Daughter is a receptionist for a hair salon, and the others are Wendy’s and McDonalds and things like that. In our town, it’s the typical jobs - fast food, grocery bagger, etc.
Maybe they don’t know how. Many can’t make change, don’t call in when they decide to take a day off, have personal conversations while they are serving customers, and expect their supervisors to schedule them around their social lives. Often when I am shopping I’ll ask a question and get an “I don’t know” answer with no effort being made to go find out for me.
It’s a delightful surprise to actually find a young person making that extra effort to do a good job.
Likely it’s a combination of this, what’s offered above and the fact that many parents don’t make teaching their children the value of being a hard worker a priority.
In my circle of friends, 8 teens or recently teens. The only one who had a job before college worked in her parent’s clinic office. All of them started working part time in college, but they are not all currently working (I think right now 4 of them are, including my son, who has a work study job at his college.)
I had the same complaint about half my teen staff when I was managing a video store 20 years ago.
In fact, I have the same complaint about half my co-workers now, and they’re all adults.
My WAG is that a lot of them don’t know how to be useful in some jobs (they weren’t taught at home). I recently finished putting my brood thru the high school pipeline, and it seemed to me that extracurricular activities became more demanding as time went on. I’ve (thankfully) retired from a decade as a band parent, and the time demands on my youngest were noticeably more than those on my eldest. So I’d sum it up as time constraints coupled with lack of knowledge of many jobs.
Thinking this was the normal thing, I taught my son a lot of basic mechanical stuff. Tools, rudimentary repairs, carpentry, how to use everything from a torch to a torque-wrench, to a chainsaw. I also included some basic car repair, how to hitch and back a trailer, how to do some basic engine repair, and a broad variety of stuff* I thought would be useful. He worked summers for a plumbing/HVAC company and was well-liked by the owner (he called here to offer him first dibs on jobs during the summers).
I had a recent conversation with the owner of that company, and he told me that he rarely hires kids for the summers anymore. He says very few of them have any knowledge of tools nor the basics he needs. He said no one is teaching their kids how to do this stuff and (his words) all they seem capable of is playing with their phones. He said he simply doesn’t have time to teach them, and is better off without.
*Of course, I got some of it wrong. Turns out no one needs his mad skillz with a timing light and dwell tach. 
I think part of that is schools have dropped all the shop classes that taught this stuff. Everything is supposed to be computers nowadays.
BUT, that might be changing since many kids even with college degrees cannot get jobs and they see that going 2 years in a tech school and getting a job as say a plumber or mechanic is becoming a more attractive alternative.
My niece just turned 16. Instead of filling out applications for McDonald’s and Six Flags like her mother and me did when we were 16, she’s looking for cool science summer camps. And to my surprise, her mother is letting her.
None of my niece’s friends will spend their summers working. All of them are going to be on various college campus scattered across the country attending “smart kid” summer camps. This is all they can talk about, so naturally my niece wants in on it too. And it’s really hard for her mother (my sis) to turn her down, even though these programs are expensive.
Because she wants Maia to go to a good college and get scholarship money. Which means she’s got to be academically competitive. A summer at Six Flags builds character and provides valuable experiences, but it’s not something that builds academic skills. I’m a bit sad that my niece isn’t getting the “independent” adolescence that I enjoyed, but I recognize times are different.
In addition to there being fewer opportunities, fewer kids drive now.
Someone a few posts back mentioned shop class. A sister wanted to take shop in high school but they wouldn’t let her; shop was for the dumb kids. :rolleyes: what if she’d wanted to go into engineering?
If I had a teenager now I would want her out of the house doing something constructive. A McJob would be pretty low on the list, far below educational camps, volunteer work, or jobs that develop unique skills (e.g. touring with a professional symphony).
The wages she would bring in at minimum wage are inconsequential, especially in light of how financial aid is calculated. I’d rather focus on college admission (if appropriate) and long term career prospects.
All of my kids work for wages. From the ten year old to the nineteen year old. If they want cars, phones, any kind of extras and cool summer camps, they pay at least half. The younger kids work for our company for an hourly wage, the older start working for others at sixteen.
They all go to academically rigorous schools and do quite well, they all participate in extracurricular sports, etc. They have friends, boy/girlfriends, hang out and seem pretty normal.
My college freshman was amazed that classmates had never even had an interview. Not only has she had interviews, but both her and the next oldest have conducted interviews.
There is a lot to be learned from working a job as a teen, and it’s not an either/or proposition. Kids rise to the occasion, if you let them.
As far as scholarships go, and future prospects, the two oldest have both received very generous academic scholarships from a very good private college.
This is because from a very young age they knew they would have to pay for college themselves. This has motivated them to do well.
I think many people don’t ask enough out of their kids, then are surprised when they don’t amount to much.
As an example, my high school freshman son really struggled first semester. New big school, much harder classes, social adjustments, football then basketball practices every day, plus demanding game schedules. His grades were nothing to write home about. But…he really wants to buy a car this summer and drive. The house rules are 3.5gpa to drive. Plus you have to pay half the cost of the car, and for insurance and gas.
Grades this quarter are a 3.67. Has he had to work hard for them? Sure has. Did he complain, and complain, and complain, say there was no way? Absolutely. But he’s learned something about himself, and about life. And he’ll be rewarded for his hard work.By being allowed to buy a car and drive this summer, and a couple of years down the line when he applies to colleges, and has a good gpa. I hope he applies himself and improves it even more, but I’ll settle for this.
My teenage daughter worked as a lifeguard at the neighborhood pool at 15 and later got a job at a chain BBQ place when she was 17; a number of her friends has similar jobs. My son also worked as a lifeguard at 16 and plans to look for something with more hours this upcoming summer. He is much busier activity-wise than my daughter was so it may be tougher for him to find a similar position. FWIW we live in a solidly upper-middle-class suburban area with lots of what I would consider responsible teens.
Now my son could never have worked earlier like many teens of my generation did doing something like mowing lawns or cleaning pools because it costs so little to hire a service to do a professional job. So I certainly see fewer young teens working.
More data:
http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_303.htm
Age 16-19 workforce participation decreased 13.1% 2002-2012. Projected to decrease another 7% 2012-2022.
Age 20-24 participation is also down 5.5%.
Full-time enrollment in college rose ~45% over approximately the same time period (Fast Facts: Enrollment (98)). That explains some of the drop, as fully pushing oneself academically means there isn’t time for much else.
I saw an article about selfies and this quote leaped out at me:
From here: Scientists Link Selfies To Narcissism, Addiction & Mental Illness
Funny, everyone wants us to act like adults but they’re only willing to pay us like children and provide no healthcare.