Survey Reveals Kids’ Work Habits

At age 12, half of American kids hold informal jobs such as baby-sitting and yardwork, and by age 15, nearly two-thirds are employed, according to a new Labor Department report.

“The American work ethic starts at an early age,” said Labor Secretary Alexis M. Herman of the findings about young Americans’ working habits, released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The study found that a smaller percentage of the teenage population held jobs in the late 1990s than two decades earlier, however.

From 1977 to 1979, an average of 30% of 15- to 17-year-olds held jobs during the school year and 43% did in the summer. By comparison, from 1996 to 1998, an average of 25% in the same age group held jobs during the school year and 34% in the summer.

The study combined findings from annual government surveys of American households with in-depth interviews conducted in 1997 with 9,022 boys and girls between the ages of 12 and 16 on Dec. 31, 1996. Findings were focused on kids 15 and younger.

The 1997 interviews revealed that about 50% of kids had worked in informal jobs at age 12. By age 14, the share of kids working rose to 57%.

About 43% of 14-year-olds were still doing only odd jobs such as neighbors’ yardwork or baby-sitting, while 24% had formal, ongoing employment and some did both kinds of work.

By age 15, 64% of teenagers were working--38% in formal, ongoing employment arrangements and 31% in formal jobs that included hours worked during the school year.

The average weekly hours worked by employed 15- to 17-year-olds were 23 in the summer and 17 during the school year.

U.S. child labor laws allow 14- and 15-year-olds to do some types of work--such as agricultural, retail and food service jobs--but limit the hours they can work. Children under age 14 may not be formally employed but can perform informal jobs, such as baby-sitting, on an occasional basis.