The Vanishing Teenage Worker in the United States

Millennials: Maligned or miscreants?

“…Some evidence of this is found in research documenting that by 2014, living with parents had become, for the first time, the most common adult living arrangement for 18–34 year‐olds (Fry, 2016). This relative growth in affluence is consistent with the decline in teen labor supply over time, which may influence labor force attachment (see Staff et al, 2017).…”

Is Adolescent Employment Still a Risk Factor for High School Dropout?

“…The sense of maturity gained from more adult‐like work roles could be causing intensive workers to disengage from school. Prior research using the same data has found that intensive workers had significantly lower test scores and educational expectations in the 11th grade compared to nonworkers (Staff et al., ). Further, intensive workers were less likely to be uncertain about their future career plans, indicating an investment in work not present for those who did not work during high school.…”

“…During the same period, national data from the Monitoring the Future Study reveal that, while over 75% of high school seniors worked during the school year from 1977 to 2001, the percentage dropped to only 40% in 2012 (Staff et al., ). Prior analyses of the HSLS:09 reveal that a majority of teenagers in 2012 had not previously worked during the school year by the spring of the 11th grade (Staff, Ramirez, & Cundiff, ; Details omitted for double‐blind reviewing). The decline in youth work was steepest in the aftermath of the Great Recession (Smith, , ), and the largest decline was experienced among those who averaged more than 20 hr/week during the school year (Staff et al., ).…”

“…Compared to nonemployed youth or those working moderate hours (i.e., 20 or fewer hours per week), youth who work intensively spend less time on homework, miss more classes, participate in fewer extracurricular activities, and give less effort to school (Carr, Wright, & Brody, ; D'Amico, ; Greenberger & Steinberg, ; Kalenkoski & Pabilonia, ; Lee & Staff, ; Marsh, ; Marsh & Kleitman, ; McNeal, ; Monahan, Lee, & Steinberg, ; Mortimer, ; Osgood, ; Schoenhals, Tienda, & Schneider, ; Staff, Schulenberg, & Bachman, ; Warren & Lee, ). Importantly, unlike intensive work, moderate hours of youth work have not been consistently linked to negative school outcomes, and some research shows that moderate workers report higher grade point averages and test scores than nonemployed youth, as well as more involvement in school (Staff, et al., ; D'Amico, ; Mortimer & Johnson, ; Warren et al., ).…”

Predictors of Employment in Early Adolescence: Results of a Longitudinal Study

“…Although youth nowadays are much less likely to be employed while attending school compared to about twenty years ago, many teenagers still combine school and work roles (Staff et al, 2017). Early adolescents are typically excluded from labour force statistics, but US and Canadian population-based estimates of 12- to 14-year-olds revealed that about one half of these youth worked for pay during the school year (Breslin et al, 2008; Entwisle et al, 1999).…”