6 Monthly Labor Review August 2001

Youth Employment Youth Employment

Today’s youths commonly gain employment

experience through working for a particular

employer, such as a fast-food restaurant, or

through a less formal arrangement, such as

babysitting for a neighbor. The purpose of this

article is to provide a detailed profile of the employment of today’s youths using round-1 data

from a new survey of youth: the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97). The article

reports the incidence, intensity, and timing of

youth employment (school vs. summer), shows the

industries and occupations in which youths commonly work, and examines employment differences

across gender, race, ethnic group, household income, and family structure.

Data and definitions

The data presented are from the first interview of

the NLSY97, a nationally representative sample of

about 9,000 young men and women who were born

between January 1, 1980, and December 31, 1984.1

The first interview took place in 1997, when these

youths were aged 12 to 17 years. The NLSY97 collects extensive information on youths’ labor market experiences, in addition to information on a

wide array of other topics, such as schooling and

family background. Members of the sample are interviewed annually.2

Early work experience can include “employee”

jobs, wherein a youth has an ongoing relationship

with a particular employer, such as a job working in

a supermarket or restaurant, and “freelance” jobs,

in which the youth does one or a few tasks without

a specific “boss,” such as babysitting, mowing

lawns, or working for oneself. The NLSY97 seeks

to gather a longitudinal record of youths’ employment experiences, rather than taking a snapshot of their labor market status at a particular

point in time.3 In order to accomplish this, survey

respondents aged 14 and older are asked to list

all employee jobs they held from the age of 14 to

the date of the interview. A calendar is filled out

by the interviewer and is shown to the respondent to confirm all beginning and ending dates of

employee jobs, as well as any gaps between those

dates within which the respondent did not work.

Respondents also provide other information

about each employee job held, such as the industry and occupation into which the job was classified. Next, respondents 14 and older are asked to

list all freelance jobs they held from the age of 14

to the date of the interview. Again, a calendar is

used to confirm all beginning and ending dates

of freelance jobs. Due to the sporadic nature of

freelance jobs, however, data on periods of

nonwork between those dates are not collected.

Respondents also provide information on the

characteristics of each freelance job they held.

Tables in the sections that follow describe

youth employment in employee jobs and freelance jobs at some time during a specific period,

including “at age 14” and “at age 15.” When a

youth is said to have worked “at age 14,” for example, the reference is to the youth having worked

at some time during the entire 52-week period

between the youth’s 14th and 15th birthdays.4

Because the NLSY97 collects data on all employYouth employment

in the United States

Data from the National Longitudinal Survey

of Youth 1997 show substantial work activity

among 14- and 15-year-olds

Donna S. Rothstein

Donna S. Rothstein is

a research economist in the Office of

Employment and

Unemployment

Statistics, Bureau of

Labor Statistics.

E-mail:

rothstein_d@bls.gov
Monthly Labor Review August 2001 7

Table 1. Percent of youths employed at ages 14 and 15 in 1994–97, by type of job, sex, race or Hispanic origin, household

 income, and family structure1

Both

Any Any Any Employee Freelance employee and

job employee freelance jobs jobs freelance

Job job only only jobs

 Total working at age 14 .......................... 57.2 23.8 42.8 14.4 33.3 9.4

Sex: ..............................................................

Male .......................................................... 55.2 28.1 36.8 18.5 27.1 9.7

Female ...................................................... 59.2 19.3 49.1 10.1 39.9 9.2

.....................................................................

Race or ethnicity: .........................................

White ......................................................... 64.3 27.5 48.3 16.1 36.8 11.4

Black ......................................................... 43.3 16.0 33.1 10.2 27.3 5.8

Hispanic origin .......................................... 41.3 16.7 30.1 11.3 24.6 5.4

.....................................................................

Household annual income: ...........................

Less than $25,000 .................................... 48.6 20.5 34.7 13.9 28.1 6.6

$25,000 to $44,999 ................................... 62.7 25.5 46.4 16.3 37.3 9.1

$45,000 to $69,999 ................................... 63.0 26.5 49.3 13.6 36.5 12.9

$70,000 or more ........................................ 63.5 25.0 49.5 13.9 38.5 11.0

.....................................................................

Family structure: ..........................................

Two-biological-parent family ...................... 61.5 26.0 46.4 15.0 35.4 11.0

Two-parent family ...................................... 59.2 23.8 44.4 14.7 35.4 9.1

Female-parent family ................................. 53.9 21.4 40.3 13.6 32.6 7.8

Not living with parents............................... 39.4 10.9 31.4 8.0 28.5 2.9

Total working at age 15 ........................... 63.7 37.6 39.8 23.9 26.1 13.7

Sex: ..............................................................

Male .......................................................... 63.4 41.5 34.1 29.3 21.9 12.2

Female ...................................................... 64.1 33.5 45.8 18.2 30.6 15.3

.....................................................................

Race or ethnicity: .........................................

White ......................................................... 71.8 44.0 44.8 27.0 27.9 17.0

Black ......................................................... 43.6 22.2 28.7 14.9 21.4 7.3

Hispanic origin .......................................... 47.9 26.5 28.1 19.8 21.4 6.7

.....................................................................

Household annual income: ...........................

Less than $25,000 .................................... 52.3 32.3 30.9 21.4 20.0 10.9

$25,000 to $44,999 ................................... 70.9 40.8 44.7 26.1 30.1 14.7

$45,000 to $69,999 ................................... 69.4 39.8 46.9 22.5 29.6 17.3

$70,000 or more ........................................ 75.6 42.2 49.4 26.2 33.4 16.0

.....................................................................

Family structure: ..........................................

Two-biological-parent family ...................... 68.0 38.6 44.1 23.8 29.3 14.8

Two-parent family ...................................... 64.8 38.3 39.3 25.4 26.5 12.8

Female-parent family ................................. 63.6 38.2 40.2 23.4 25.4 14.8

Not living with parents............................... 43.3 25.9 22.5 20.8 17.3 5.1

.....................................................................

1

 When a youth is said to have worked “at age 14,” for example, the

reference is to the youth having worked at some time during the entire 52-week

period between the youth’s 14th and 15th birthdays.

NOTE: The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 surveyed male and

female youths who were aged 12 to 16 on December 31, 1996. Rows of the

table referring to youths working at age 14 exclude individuals who were not

yet 15 years of age when they were interviewed. Rows referring to youths

working at age 15 exclude individuals who were not yet 16 years of age when

they were interviewed.

Age in 1994–97 and characteristic

 Percent employed at—

ment spells in employee jobs, it is possible to determine

whether a youth did any work at all while he or she was a

particular age and also to determine how many weeks the

youth worked at that age. The method the analysis that follows uses to determine whether an individual worked at a

freelance job at a particular age is less precise than that used

for employee jobs, because only data on beginning and ending employment dates are collected. If a period between any

freelance job’s beginning and ending date spans any of the

weeks the respondent was 14 (for example), the respondent is

defined as having worked in a freelance job at age 14. This

approach may overstate youths’ incidence of employment in

freelance jobs: the data do not allow one to calculate the number of weeks a respondent worked at such a job.

Over the years, policymakers have been concerned about

youth employment during the school term.5 The nature of the

NLSY97 data on employee jobs allows one to calculate the

percentage of youths working during the school year or dur-
8 Monthly Labor Review August 2001

Youth Employment

Table 2. Percent of individuals aged 14 to 15 in 1994–97

 and aged 14 to 16 on December 31, 1996, who

 worked at an employee job, and average

 number of weeks worked, by sex, race or

 Hispanic origin, household income, and family

 structure1

Percent with Average

 Age in 1994–97 and characteristic an employee number of

job weeks worked

 Total working at age 14..................... 23.8 24.6

Sex: .........................................................

Male ....................................................... 28.1 24.6

Female ................................................... 19.3 24.6

Race or ethnicity: ....................................

White ..................................................... 27.5 26.3

Black ..................................................... 16.0 17.0

Hispanic origin ....................................... 16.7 17.9

Household annual income: ......................

Less than $25,000 ................................ 20.5 21.0

$25,000 to $44,999 ............................... 25.5 23.9

$45,000 to $69,999 ............................... 26.5 27.6

$70,000 or more .................................... 25.0 24.0

Family structure: .....................................

Two-biological-parent family ................... 26.0 26.2

Two-parent family ................................... 23.8 24.4

Female-parent family ............................. 21.4 21.1

Not living with parents ........................... 10.9 14.2

 Total working at age 15 .......................... 37.6 25.9

................................................................

Sex: .........................................................

Male ....................................................... 41.5 27.2

Female ................................................... 33.5 24.1

Race or ethnicity: ....................................

White ..................................................... 44.0 27.1

Black ..................................................... 22.2 20.6

Hispanic origin ....................................... 26.5 20.5

Household annual income: ......................

Less than $25,000 ................................ 32.3 23.8

$25,000 to $44,999 ............................... 40.8 26.5

$45,000 to $69,999 ............................... 39.8 30.1

$70,000 or more .................................... 42.2 24.8

................................................................

Family structure: .....................................

Two-biological-parent family ................... 38.6 28.2

Two-parent family ................................... 38.3 25.8

Female-parent family ............................. 38.2 24.1

Not living with parents ........................... 25.9 17.0

................................................................

 1 When a youth is said to have worked “at age 14,” for example, the

reference is to the youth having worked at some time during the entire 52-

week period between the youth’s 14th and 15th birthdays.

 NOTE: The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 surveyed male and

female youths who were aged 12 to 16 on December 31, 1996. Rows of the

table referring to youths working at age 14 exclude individuals who were not

yet 15 years of age when they were interviewed. Rows referring to youths

working at age 15 exclude individuals who were not yet 16 years of age when

they were interviewed.

ing the summer (or both). One can also calculate the percentage of school and summer weeks that youths work in employee jobs. It is convenient to depict the timing of youth

employment (especially graphically) during a calendar year,

rather than at a particular age. Tables and charts on the timing

of youth employment are shown for calendar year 1996, for

one birth year: 1981. These youths were 15 as of December 31,

1996, and thus ranged from 14 to 15 years old in 1996.

Unlike most data sets, the NLSY97 captures employment of

the very young. The survey asks all youths aged 12 or 13 at

the interview date about all of their work activities since the

age of 12. The survey does not distinguish between employment in freelance and employee jobs for this age group, but

the structure of the questions is similar to that of questions

asked of older youths in the freelance section. In this article,

the incidence of employment of the very young is measured

over the year youths are age 12.6

Past research suggests that youth employment behavior

varies by factors such as sex, race, ethnicity, household income, and family structure.7 Accordingly, the tables that follow tabulate youth employment by these factors. Household

income is measured for calendar year 1996 and is broken down

into four mutually exclusive categories. Family structure is

decomposed into five mutually exclusive categories and is

measured for the same period as are the youth employment

variables (for example, at age 14 or during calendar year 1996).8

Incidence of youth employment

This profile of youth employment in the NLSY97 begins with

an examination of the incidence of employment among 14-

and 15-year-olds. When calculating employment experience,

researchers often use age 16 as a starting point. However, as

table 1 shows, a significant percentage of youths engage in

employment activities at ages 14 and 15.9 More than half (57

percent) of all youths held a job at least sometime at age 14.

The majority of working youths held only freelance jobs at

that age. Almost two-thirds (64 percent) of youths had worked

at least sometime at age 15. Accompanying this increase in

youth employment was a shift away from freelance work and

into employee jobs.

Overall, 55 percent of male youths and 59 percent of female

youths worked at least sometime at age 14. At age 15, about

equal percentages of male and female youths worked (63 percent and 64 percent, respectively). However, the mix between

freelance and employee jobs differed considerably by gender:

at both ages, female youths were much more likely to hold

freelance jobs and less likely to hold employee jobs than were

male youths.

Past research has consistently found substantial differences by race or ethnicity in the incidence of youth employment, and the NLSY97 data show this difference as well. Employment is much higher among whites at these ages than

among blacks or Hispanics. At age 14, 64 percent of whites, 43

percent of blacks, and 41 percent of Hispanics had worked

sometime.10 By age 15, 72 percent of whites and 48 percent of

Hispanics had worked sometime, significantly higher percent-
Monthly Labor Review August 2001 9

Table 3. Top 10 industries of longest-held employee job

 of youths at ages 14 and 15 in 1994–971

Percent

of youths

 Age 14

Eating and drinking places .................................................. 17.4

Miscellaneous entertainment and recreation services ......... 8.7

Construction ........................................................................ 8.4

Newspaper publishing and printing ...................................... 4.9

Agricultural production, crops ............................................. 4.4

Private households (personal services) .............................. 4.1

Landscape and horticultural services .................................. 3.6

Agricultural production, livestock ........................................ 2.9

Elementary and secondary schools .................................... 1.9

Services to dwellings and other buildings ........................... 1.9

............................................................................................

 Age 15 ............................................

............................................................................................

Eating and drinking places .................................................. 28.8

Miscellaneous entertainment and recreation services ......... 9.0

Construction ........................................................................ 5.3

Grocery stores .................................................................... 4.5

Newspaper publishing and printing ...................................... 2.9

Landscape and horticultural services .................................. 2.3

Agricultural production, crops ............................................. 2.0

Agricultural production, livestock ........................................ 1.8

Automotive repair and related services ............................... 1.6

Private households (personal services) .............................. 1.5

............................................................................................ 1

 When a youth is said to have worked “at age 14,” for example, the

reference is to the youth having worked at some time during the entire 52-

week period between the youth’s 14th and 15th birthdays.

NOTE: The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 surveyed male

and female youths who were aged 12 to 16 on December 31, 1996. Rows

of the table referring to 14-year-olds exclude individuals who were not yet

15 years of age when they were interviewed. Rows referring to 15-yearolds exclude individuals who were not yet 16 years of age when they were

interviewed.

Industry

Table 4. Top 10 industries of longest-held employee job

 of youths at age 14 in 1994–97, by sex1

 Industry

 Male youths

..........................................................................................

Eating and drinking places ................................................ 15.8

Construction ...................................................................... 11.4

Miscellaneous entertainment and recreation services ....... 8.8

Newspaper publishing and printing .................................... 6.1

Agricultural production, crops ........................................... 5.9

Landscape and horticultural services ................................ 5.4

Agricultural production, livestock ...................................... 3.7

Elementary and secondary schools .................................. 2.4

Automotive repair and related services ............................. 2.3

Grocery stores .................................................................. 1.8

..........................................................................................

 Female youths ................................

..........................................................................................

Eating and drinking places ................................................ 19.8

Private households (personal services) ............................ 8.6

Miscellaneous entertainment and recreation services ....... 8.5

Construction ...................................................................... 3.8

Child day care services ..................................................... 3.5

Newspaper publishing and printing .................................... 3.1

Religious organizations ..................................................... 2.8

Services to dwellings and other buildings ......................... 2.1

Social services, N.E.C. ....................................................... 1.9

Agricultural production, crops ........................................... 1.9

1 When a youth is said to have worked “at age 14,” for example, the

reference is to the youth having worked at some time during the entire 52-

week period between the youth’s 14th and 15th birthdays.

NOTE: The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 surveyed male

and female youths who were aged 12 to 16 on December 31, 1996. All rows

of the table exclude individuals who were not yet 15 years of age when they

were interviewed. N.E.C. = not elsewhere classified.

Percent

 of youths

ages than those at age 14. Black employment, however, remained nearly constant, at 44 percent.

Youths in households with low income were less likely to

work. One possible explanation for this finding is that they

may have lived in areas with less economic opportunity and,

consequently, may have had less access to transportation,

which could have decreased their likelihood of working. At

age 14, 49 percent of youths whose households had annual

incomes of less than $25,000 worked in an employee or

freelance job or both. In contrast, about 63 percent of youths

in households with higher levels of income worked at age 14.

Similar differences are observed for youths aged 15: 52 percent of those in households with annual incomes of less than

$25,000 worked, compared with at least 69 percent in households with higher income.

Youths in two-biological-parent and other two-parent families were more likely to work at age 14 (62 percent and 59

percent, respectively) than those in female-parent families (54

percent). Youths in female-parent families may have faced relatively more obstacles to working due to issues related to their

having a lower income or to having fewer adults in the household to provide them with transportation to a job. However,

employment differences between youths in these types of

family structure were not significant for 15-year-olds.11

With regard to the incidence and intensity (in terms of

weeks) of youth employment in employee jobs, the percentage of youths working at such jobs increased substantially,

from 24 percent at age 14 to 38 percent at age 15. In addition,

at both of these ages, employed youths worked a significant

portion of the year (about one-half of it; see table 2.)

Male youths were more likely than female youths to work at

an employee job at age 14 or 15. However, of those who held an

employee job at age 14, both sexes worked about half the year.

At age 15, male youths with jobs worked slightly more weeks

than did female youths (27 and 24 weeks, respectively).

At ages 14 and 15, whites were considerably more likely to

work at employee jobs than were blacks or Hispanics. At age

14, whites worked 26 weeks, while blacks worked 17 weeks

and Hispanics worked 18 weeks. At age 15, whites worked 27

weeks, and blacks and Hispanics worked about 21 weeks.

Youths in households with annual incomes of less than

$25,000 were less likely to work in employee jobs at ages 14

and 15 than were youths in households with higher incomes.
10 Monthly Labor Review August 2001

Youth Employment

Table 5. Top 10 industries of longest-held employee job

 of youths at age 15 in 1995–97, by sex1

Percent

of youths

 Male youths

Eating and drinking places ................................................ 27.3

Construction ...................................................................... 8.3

Miscellaneous entertainment and recreation services ....... 7.6

Grocery stores .................................................................. 4.7

Newspaper publishing and printing .................................... 4.2

Landscape and horticultural services................................ 4.0

Agricultural production, crops ........................................... 2.6

Agricultural production, livestock ...................................... 2.5

Automotive repair and related services ............................. 2.0

Miscellaneous retail stores ................................................ 1.5

..........................................................................................

 Female youths .................................

..........................................................................................

Eating and drinking places ................................................ 30.8

Miscellaneous entertainment and recreation services ....... 10.9

Grocery stores .................................................................. 4.2

Private households (personal services) ............................ 3.0

Religious organizations ..................................................... 2.3

Child day care services ..................................................... 2.3

Services to dwellings and other buildings ......................... 1.7

Apparel and accessory stores, except shoe .................... 1.6

Food stores, N.E.C. ............................................................. 1.5

Hotels and motels .............................................................. 1.4

.......................................................................................... 1 When a youth is said to have worked “at age 14,” for example, the

reference is to the youth having worked at some time during the entire 52-

week period between the youth’s 14th and 15th birthdays.

NOTE: The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 surveyed male and

female youths who were aged 12 to 16 on December 31, 1996. All rows of the

table exclude individuals who were not yet 16 years of age when they were

interviewed. N.E.C. = not elsewhere classified.

 Industry

However, only 14- and 15-year-old youths in households with

annual incomes in the $45,000–$69,999 range worked a significantly greater number of weeks than did youths in households with an income of less than $25,000 per year.

Youth industries and occupations

Fourteen- and 15-year-olds’ employee jobs were concentrated

in a small number of industries. Table 3 lists the top 10 detailed

three-digit Census industries of employee jobs youths held at

ages 14 and 15.12 Nearly 60 percent of employed youths

worked in one of these industries sometime at age 14 or 15. At

both of these ages, eating and drinking places constituted the

most common industry in which youths were employed, with

17-percent representation among 14-year-olds and a significantly higher 29-percent showing among 15-year-olds.

Male and female 14-year-olds shared 5 of the top 10 industries, while their 15-year-old counterparts shared only 3. (See

Tables 4 and 5.) Not surprisingly, eating and drinking establishments were the most common employers of male and female youths at both ages 14 and 15. At age 14, male youths in

employee jobs were nearly 3 times as likely to work in the

construction industry as were female youths. Construction

continued to be a prominent employer of male youths at age

15, although it did not appear in the top-10 list for 15-year-old

female youths. By contrast, work in private households was

significant for 14- and 15-year-old young women, but did not

appear in the top-10 industry list for male youths.

Youth employment also appears to be concentrated in a

small number of occupations. Table 6 lists the top 10 detailed

three-digit Census occupations of employee jobs youths held

at ages 14 and 15;13 at each age, about 50 percent of employed

youths worked in one of those occupations. The most likely

detailed occupation for employed youths is janitors and cleaners at age 14 (9 percent) and cashiers at age 15 (10 percent).

The latter is the third most likely occupation for 14-year-olds.

Male and female youths exhibit significant differences in

occupations at the two ages studied. Male and female 14-

year-olds shared only two common occupations in their top10 lists, while their 15-year-old counterparts shared five. (See

tables 7 and 8.) Cashier was the most common occupation of

employed female youths: 11 percent worked as cashiers at

age 14 and 16 percent at age 15. By contrast, the occupation

of cashier did not even reach the top-10 list of employed male

14-year-olds and was the fifth most common occupation of

employed male 15-year-olds. Male youths were most likely to

Table 6. Top 10 occupations of longest-held employee

 job of youths at ages 14 and 15 in 1994–971

Percent

of youths

 Total at age 14

Janitors and cleaners .................................................... 8.7

Farm workers ................................................................. 5.9

Cashiers ........................................................................ 5.5

News vendors ................................................................ 5.3

Groundskeepers and gardeners, except farm ............... 4.5

Laborers, except construction ...................................... 4.1

Construction laborers .................................................... 3.9

Cooks ............................................................................ 3.8

Waiters’ and waitresses’ assistants ............................... 3.5

General office clerks ..................................................... 2.9

 Total at age 15 ............................

Cashiers ........................................................................ 10.0

Cooks ............................................................................ 5.9

Miscellaneous food preparation occupations ................ 5.7

Janitors and cleaners .................................................... 5.5

Waiters’ and waitresses’ assistants ............................... 4.7

Stock handlers and baggers ......................................... 4.5

Laborers, except construction ...................................... 4.2

Sales workers, other commodities................................. 4.1

Construction laborers .................................................... 3.1

News vendors ................................................................ 3.0

 1 When a youth is said to have worked “at age 14,” for example, the

reference is to the youth having worked at some time during the entire 52-

week period between the youth’s 14th and 15th birthdays.

 NOTE: The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 surveyed male

and female youths who were aged 12 to 16 on December 31, 1996. Rows of

the table referring to 14-year-olds exclude individuals who were not yet 15

years of age when they were interviewed. Rows referring to 15-year-olds

exclude individuals who were not yet 16 years of age when they were

interviewed.

Occupation
Monthly Labor Review August 2001 11

 Male youths

Janitors and cleaners ..................................................... 9.4

Farm workers ................................................................. 7.1

Groundskeepers and gardeners, except farm ............... 6.9

News vendors ................................................................ 6.7

Construction laborers ..................................................... 4.7

Laborers, except construction ....................................... 5.9

Cooks ............................................................................. 4.2

Waiters’ and waitresses’ assistants .............................. 4.1

Miscellaneous food preparation occupations ................. 3.4

Attendants, amusement and recreational facilities ....... 2.8

.......................................................................................

 Female youths .............................

.......................................................................................

Cashiers ......................................................................... 10.9

Janitors and cleaners ..................................................... 7.5

Child care workers, private household ........................... 5.9

General office clerks ...................................................... 5.8

Child care workers, N.E.C. ............................................... 5.2

Waiters and waitresses .................................................. 4.7

Receptionists ................................................................. 4.3

Teachers, N.E.C. .............................................................. 3.9

Farm workers .................................................................. 3.9

Secretaries ..................................................................... 3.5

.......................................................................................

 1 When a youth is said to have worked “at age 14,” for example, the

reference is to the youth having worked at some time during the entire 52-

week period between the youth’s 14th and 15th birthdays.

NOTE: The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 surveyed male and

female youths who were aged 12 to 16 on December 31, 1996. All rows of the

table exclude individuals who were not yet 15 years of age when they were

interviewed. N.E.C. = not elsewhere classified.

 Occupation

 Male youths

......................................................................

Cooks .................................................................... 7.7

Janitors and cleaners ............................................ 6.9

Miscellaneous food preparation occupations ........ 6.4

Waiters’ and waitresses’ assistants ....................... 6.0

Cashiers ................................................................ 5.8

Construction laborers ............................................ 5.5

Stock handlers and baggers ................................. 5.5

Groundskeepers and gardeners, except farm ....... 5.1

Laborers, except construction .............................. 4.8

News vendors ........................................................ 4.5

..............................................................................

 Female youths ........................

..............................................................................

Cashiers ................................................................ 15.7

Waiters and waitresses ......................................... 5.7

General office clerks ............................................. 5.6

Sales workers, other commodities ......................... 4.7

Miscellaneous food preparation occupations ........ 4.7

Receptionists ........................................................ 4.1

Cooks .................................................................... 3.6

Janitors and cleaners ............................................ 3.6

Laborers, except construction .............................. 3.4

Teachers, N.E.C. ..................................................... 3.3

 1 When a youth is said to have worked “at age 14,” for example, the

reference is to the youth having worked at some time during the entire 52-

week period between the youth’s 14th and 15th birthdays.

NOTE: The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 surveyed male

and female youths who were aged 12 to 16 on December 31, 1996. All rows

of the table exclude individuals who were not yet 16 years of age when they

were interviewed. N.E.C. = not elsewhere classified.

be employed as janitors and cleaners at age 14 (9 percent)

and as cooks (8 percent) at age 15. Female 15-year-olds were

about half as likely to be employed as cooks. Another interesting gender difference is that 14- and 15-year-old female

youths were likely to be employed as waitresses, whereas

male youths were likely to be employed as waiters’ and waitresses’ assistants.

Babysitting and yard work were by far the most common

freelance jobs youths reported having worked at at ages 14

and 15. Table 9 shows that 43 percent of youths engaged in

freelance jobs at age 14. Of these, 62 percent worked as

babysitters and 38 percent did yard work.14 At age 15, 40

percent of youths worked in freelance jobs, of whom 60 percent worked as babysitters and 37 percent did yard work.

There are dramatic differences in freelance occupations

by sex. At age 14, more than 91 percent of female youths who

held freelance jobs worked as babysitters, compared with

less than 25 percent of male youths. In contrast, almost 73

percent of male youths in freelance jobs did yard work, compared with less than 11 percent of female youths in freelance

jobs. The pattern continues for youths who worked at age

15, with, again, about 91 percent of female youths in freelance

jobs having worked as babysitters, but only 20 percent of

male youths having done so. At age 15, male youths who

held freelance jobs were far more likely to do yard work (73

percent) than were female youths who held freelance jobs (9

percent).

Whites were more likely to hold freelance jobs at ages 14

and 15 than were blacks or Hispanics. At age 14, whites holding a freelance job were more likely to work as babysitters

than were blacks.

Employment while in school

This section examines the timing of youth employment during school and during summer weeks. The analysis focuses

on the employment during the year 1996 of youths aged 15

years as of December 31, 1996. Thus, the data are for one

birth year, 1981, so that the youths in question were aged 14

to 15 during 1996.

Chart 1 depicts the percent of enrolled youths working at

employee jobs over each week of the 1996 calendar year;

shading marks summer weeks.15 The chart shows a general

upward trend in the percent of youths aged 14 to 15 working

Percent

of youths

Percent

of youths

Table 7. Top 10 occupations of longest-held employee

 job of youths at age 14 in 1994–97, by sex1

Top 10 occupations of longest-held employee

job of youths at age 14 in 1995–97, by sex1

 Occupation

Table 8.
12 Monthly Labor Review August 2001

Youth Employment

Table 9. Percent of youths engaged in freelance jobs at ages 14 and 15 in 1994–97, by type of job, sex, race or Hispanic

 origin, and household income1

Percent of those with a

Percent with freelance job engaged in—

a freelance

job

Babysitting Yard work

 Total working at age 14................................... 42.8 62.0 37.9

Sex: .......................................................................

Male ` .................................................................. 36.8 24.6 72.8

Female ................................................................. 49.1 91.4 10.6

Race or ethnicity: ..................................................

White ................................................................... 48.3 63.3 37.4

Black ................................................................... 33.1 55.2 41.1

Hispanic origin ..................................................... 30.1 59.9 40.2

Household annual income: ....................................

Less than $25,000 .............................................. 34.7 58.7 35.1

$25,000 to $44,999 ............................................. 46.4 63.2 39.1

$45,000 to $69,999 ............................................. 49.3 61.5 41.1

$70,000 or more .................................................. 49.5 67.8 35.0

Family structure: ...................................................

Two-biological-parent family ................................. 46.4 62.5 38.5

Two-parent family ................................................. 44.4 67.0 35.8

Female-parent family ........................................... 40.3 60.6 32.0

Not living with parent ........................................... 31.4 66.2 40.4

 Total working at age 15................................... 39.8 59.8 37.2

Sex: .......................................................................

Male ..................................................................... 34.1 19.6 72.8

Female ................................................................. 45.8 91.4 9.3

..............................................................................

Race or ethnicity: ..................................................

White ................................................................... 44.8 61.0 37.2

Black ................................................................... 28.7 52.9 41.2

Hispanic origin ..................................................... 28.1 59.7 34.1

Household annual income: ....................................

Less than $25,000 .............................................. 30.9 52.3 33.0

$25,000 to $44,999 ............................................. 44.7 64.3 33.6

$45,000 to $69,999 ............................................. 46.9 61.1 42.8

$70,000 or more .................................................. 49.4 62.3 39.5

..............................................................................

Family structure: ...................................................

Two-biological-parent family ................................. 44.1 61.2 38.7

Two-parent family ................................................. 39.3 64.4 35.5

Female-parent family ........................................... 40.2 59.6 30.8

Not living with parent ........................................... 22.5 66.8 39.8

Age in 1994–97 and characteristic

 1 When a youth is said to have worked “at age 14,” for example, the

reference is to the youth having worked at some time during the entire 52-

week period between the youth’s 14th and 15th birthdays.

 NOTE: The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 surveyed male

and female youths who were aged 12 to 16 on December 31, 1996. Rows

of the table referring to youths working at age 14 exclude individuals who

were not yet 15 years of age when they were interviewed.

at employee jobs during the weeks leading up to the summer.

A peak in youth employment occurred during the middle of

the summer. The trend line then became fairly flat during the

fall school term, but still lay above its spring-term level.

This general employment pattern also held for male and

female youths separately. (See Chart 2.) However, over the

summer months, male youths experienced a steeper increase

and subsequent decrease in employment than did female

youths. Throughout the 1996 calendar year, male employment was higher than female employment.

Chart 3 shows the week-by-week incidence of employment separately by race and ethnicity. White, black, and Hispanic youths all exhibited a peak in employment during the

summer weeks. However, while white youths experienced an

upward trend in employment during the spring semester of

1996, the trend line of black and Hispanic youths remained

fairly flat. Over the weeks of 1996, white youth employment

was consistently much higher than employment for black and
Monthly Labor Review August 2001 13

Table 11. Percent of youths aged 13 engaged in work activities at age 12 sometime during 1995–97, by type of job, sex,

 race or Hispanic origin, and household income1

Percent with Percent of those with a work activity engaged in—

 Age in 1995–97 and characteristic a work

activity Babysitting Yard work

 Total ........................................................ 49.6 55.6 39.7

Sex: ...............................................................

Male ............................................................. 48.3 26.3 65.8

Female ......................................................... 51.0 84.9 13.6

Race or ethnicity: ..........................................

White ........................................................... 56.5 54.6 40.1

Black ........................................................... 36.2 46.9 41.7

Hispanic origin ............................................. 36.0 61.3 37.0

Household annual income: ............................

Less than $25,000 ...................................... 48.7 50.1 45.9

$25,000 to $44,999 ..................................... 52.2 51.2 41.5

$45,000 to $69,999 ..................................... 53.8 55.6 39.1

$70,000 or more .......................................... 53.9 61.5 39.1

Family structure: ...........................................

Two-biological-parent family ......................... 52.2 55.2 41.3

Two-parent family ......................................... 50.9 53.7 39.8

Female-parent family ................................... 51.6 56.4 38.8

Not living with parent ................................... 41.2 49.5 32.0

 1 When a youth is said to have worked “at age 14,” for example, the

reference is to the youth having worked at some time during the entire 52-

week period between the youth’s 14th and 15th birthdays.

 NOTE: The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 surveyed male

and female youths who were aged 12 to 16 on December 31, 1996. All rows

of the table exclude individuals who were not yet 13 years of age when

interviewed.

Table 10. Percent of youths aged 15 as of December 31, 1996, with an employee job during 1996, by timing

 of employment, sex, race or Hispanic origin, household income, family structure, and grade attending school1

 Worked during school-year weeks

Percent with

 Characteristic an employee Worked Worked during Worked

 job during school- both school- during

year weeks year and summer

only summer weeks weeks only

 Total ..................................................... 31.9 24.9 5.8 19.1 7.0

Sex: ............................................................

Male .......................................................... 37.0 29.0 6.6 22.4 7.9

Female ...................................................... 26.6 20.6 5.0 15.6 6.0

...................................................................

Race or ethnicity: .......................................

White ........................................................ 36.6 30.4 6.3 24.1 6.2

Black ........................................................ 22.9 14.1 6.3 7.8 8.8

Hispanic origin .......................................... 20.1 12.4 4.0 8.4 7.6

...................................................................

Household annual income: .........................

Less than $25,000 ................................... 24.1 18.1 6.6 11.5 6.1

$25,000 to $44,999 .................................. 33.4 25.0 7.5 17.6 8.4

$45,000 to $69,999 .................................. 38.6 33.4 5.8 27.5 5.3

$70,000 or more ....................................... 38.9 30.3 5.9 24.4 8.6

...................................................................

Family structure: ........................................

Two-biological-parent family ...................... 34.6 28.3 5.1 23.3 6.3

Two-parent family ...................................... 38.5 29.5 9.7 19.9 8.9

Female-parent family ................................ 26.4 19.4 6.3 13.1 7.0

Not living with parent ................................ 24.5 21.1 3.8 17.3 3.3

Grade attending school, fall 1996 ..............

6th, 7th, or 8th ......................................... 18.4 12.4 5.4 7.0 6.1

9th ............................................................ 28.9 21.6 4.8 16.8 7.3

10th .......................................................... 35.3 28.1 6.7 21.4 7.2

11th or 12th .............................................. 35.0 32.9 4.2 28.7 2.1

 1 When a youth is said to have worked “at age 14,” for example, the

reference is to the youth having worked at some time during the entire 52-week

period between the youth’s 14th and 15th birthdays.

 NOTE: The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 surveyed male and

female youths aged 12 to 16 on December 31, 1996.

Total

Table 11.
14 Monthly Labor Review August 2001

Youth Employment

Hispanic youths. Black and Hispanic youths experienced

fairly similar rates of employment during the spring and summer of 1996. However, during the fall semester, the trend line

for Hispanic youth employment was above that of black

youth employment.

Most youths who worked at employee jobs did so during

both the summer and the school term. More specifically, 19

percent of enrolled youths aged 14 to 15 worked at an employee job at some point during both the summer and the

school term in 1996. (See table 10.) Six percent of youths

worked in an employee job only during the school year in

1996. Thus, 25 percent of youths aged 14 to 15 worked at an

employee job at some point while school was in session during the 1996 calendar year. An additional 7 percent worked in

an employee job only during the summer, but not the school

term, of 1996.

The 19 percent of enrolled youths who worked during

both the summer and the school year worked much more

intensively, in terms of percent of weeks worked, than students employed only during the school months or only during the summer (numbers not shown in table). That is, this

group of youths worked in employee jobs about 61 percent

of school weeks and 80 percent of summer weeks; in contrast, those who worked only during the school year worked

under 20 percent of the school weeks, and youths who

worked only during the summer worked slightly under half

of the summer weeks.

A higher percentage of male youths than female youths

worked in employee jobs at some point during the school

term (29 percent and 21 percent, respectively). However,

among youths who worked, there was little difference by

gender in the percent of weeks worked (numbers not shown

in table).

Whites were much more likely to work in employee jobs

at some point while school was in session (30 percent) than

were blacks (14 percent) or Hispanics (12 percent). Almost a

quarter of whites worked in employee jobs during both the

summer and the school year, compared with about 8 percent

of blacks and Hispanics. Employed whites in this group

worked significantly more school and summer weeks than

did blacks—about 62 percent of school weeks and 81 percent of summer weeks, compared with 46 percent of school

weeks and 67 percent of summer weeks (numbers not shown

in table).

The timing of youth employment also varies by household income and family structure. Youths in households with

1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40 43 46 49 52

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Chart 1. Percent of school-enrolled youths aged 15 on December 31, 1996, who worked in 

 employee jobs during 1996, week by week

Percent Percent

Summer weeks

Weeks of 1996
Monthly Labor Review August 2001 15

1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40 43 46 49 52

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Chart 2. Percent of school-enrolled youths aged 15 on December 31, 1996, who worked in 

 employee jobs during 1996, week by week, by sex

Percent Percent

Summer weeks

Male youths

Female youths

Weeks of 1996

1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40 43 46 49 52

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Chart 3. Percent of school-enrolled youths aged 15 on December 31, 1996, who worked in 

 employee jobs during 1996, week by week, by race and Hispanic origin

Percent Percent

Summer weeks

White

Black

Weeks of 1996

Hispanic
16 Monthly Labor Review August 2001

Youth Employment

yearly incomes of less than $25,000 were less likely to hold employee jobs during the school year (18 percent) than were youths

in households in higher income categories (from 25 percent to

33 percent). Youths in two-biological-parent families and other

two-parent families were more likely to work while school was in

session than were youths in female-parent families.

Being in a higher grade in school was also associated with a

higher incidence of youth employment. In the fall of 1996, the

cohort born in 1981 was mostly in the 9th and 10th grades.

Youths in 10th grade were more likely to work during the school

term than were youths in lower grades. Tenth graders were also

significantly more likely to work both during the school year

and during the summer than were youths in lower grades.

Employment of the very young

The NLSY97 also provides data on the work activities of

youths who have not reached their teenage years. Nearly

half of all youths aged 13 years at the time of the survey were

engaged in work activities at some point while they were age 12.

(See table 11.) Of these, 56 percent worked as babysitters and 40

percent did yard work.16 Female youths were about equally as

likely as male youths to engage in work activities at age 12.

However, gender differences in the types of work activities

youths participated in at that age were substantial, with 85

percent of working female youths engaged in babysitting,

compared with 26 percent of male youths. Conversely, about

two-thirds of working male youths performed yard work at

age 12, compared with only 14 percent of working female

youths. Whites are much more likely to engage in work activities at age 12 (57 percent) than are blacks (36 percent) or

Hispanics (36 percent). There is little difference by household income level.

YOUTHS ENGAGE IN SUBSTANTIAL WORK ACTIVITY across the various measures of youth employment examined in this article.

From age 14 to 15, youths appear to shift more toward working in employee jobs and less in freelance jobs. At both of

those ages, gender and racial differences in employment are

significant. At both ages, female youths are more likely to

hold freelance jobs than male youths, but less likely to hold

employee jobs. In addition, significant gender differences

exist in the types of employee and freelance jobs held by

youths. Finally, whites are more likely to engage in work activities than are blacks or Hispanics.

An examination of the timing of youth employment indicates that youths who hold employee jobs at ages 14 to 15

are likely to work during school weeks. Youths who hold

employee jobs during both summer and school weeks tend

to work a higher percentage of weeks in each of those periods than those who work only during the summer or only

during the school year. 

Footnotes

1

 Data include oversamples of black and Hispanic youths. Subsequent

to the release of round-1 NLSY97 data, some duplicate observations were

discovered, and the sample size for that round then fell from 9,022 to

8,984. Sample weights at the time this article was begun were based on all

9,022 observations, and the tables that are presented use the full round1 sample, as well as round-1 sample weights to adjust for differing sample

rates; this approach ensures that the data are nationally representative of

U.S. youths born in the years 1980–84.

2

 A number of the tables in this article also appear in Press Release

USDL 99–110 and Report on the Youth Labor Force (Bureau of Labor

Statistics, November 2000).

3

 However, the round-1 survey also contains a “CPS Section” containing questions from the Current Population Survey that can be used to

determine a youth’s labor force status in the week prior to the interview.

The article “Youth employment: results from two longitudinal surveys

school” (this issue, pp. 25–37) uses data from the “CPS Section.”

4

 Youths are aged 12–16 as of December 31, 1996. The round-1

interview occurred in 1997, when most youths had not yet turned 17.

Because the number of youths for whom data were collected for the

entire year they were 16 is small, the article does not show tabulations

for 16-year-olds.

5

 See, for example, National Research Council, Protecting Youth at

Work (Washington, DC, National Academy Press, 1998).

6

 As just stated, only youths aged 12 or 13 at the date of the

interview report employment at these young ages. Thus, it is not

possible to use round-1 NLSY97 data to calculate youth employment

for the entire year that youths are age 13.

7

 Mark Schoenhals, Marta Tienda, and Barbara Schneider, “The

Educational and Personal Consequences of Adolescent Employment,”

Social Forces, December 1998, pp. 723–62, provide a brief summary

of this research.

8

 The categories are (1) families with two biological parents or two

adoptive parents (called, for simplicity, two-biological-parent families), (2) families with one biological parent and one step- or adoptive

parent (called simply two-parent families), (3) families with one female biological parent and no other parent (female-parent families),

(4) families with one male biological parent and no other parent

(male-parent families), and (5) families consisting of children living

with foster parents, grandparents and no parents, or other relatives

and no parents; families of children living in group quarters; and other

family arrangements (all lumped together as children not living with

parents). Due to the small sample size of male-parent families, the

tables that follow exclude that category.

9

 Robert T. Michael and Nancy B. Tuma, “Youth Employment:

Does Life Begin at 16?” Journal of Labor Economics, October 1984,

pp. 464–76, point out that significant percentages of youths in the

NLSY79 work before age 16.
Monthly Labor Review August 2001 17

10 In all tables and charts in this article, the racial and Hispanic

groups are mutually exclusive. Totals include American Indians, Alaskan natives, and Asians and Pacific Islanders, not shown separately.

11 At ages 14 and 15, youths who do not live with a parent work

less than youths who live in the other family structures listed in table

1. Youths who do not live with a parent live in varied arrangements,

including living with foster parents, grandparents, and other relatives,

as well as living in group quarters.

12 The industry shown in this table and in tables 4 and 5 is for the

employee job the youth held for the most weeks at a particular age.

13 The occupation shown in this table and in tables 7 and 8 is for the

employee job the youth held for the most weeks at a particular age.

14 Yard work includes mowing lawns, shoveling snow, landscaping,

and gardening. In explaining the concept of freelance jobs to youth

respondents, NLSY97 interviewers used babysitting and mowing lawns

as examples. Youths who have more than one freelance job at the age

of 14 or 15 may appear in both the babysitting and yard-work columns of table 9.

15 Summer is defined as the 13-week period from June 2 through

August 31, 1996.

16 Youths who had more than one work activity at age 12 may

appear in both the babysitting and yard-work columns of table 11.

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