Part-time and summer jobs good for young teens

They call them by the derogatory term “McJobs”. These are the low-wage service industry jobs such as working at a fast food chain.

For teens however who work evenings, weekends, or during the summer holidays, it seems they are a building block to greater success in later life.

The study says teens who work part-time jobs while in school progress to better-suited careers than peers who don’t work during their high school period, because early exposure to work helps them focus on preferences, work on skills, acquire references and learn how to job hunt.

In fact a new study shows that the longer hours a 15-year-old works –up to a poinit- the greater that later competitive advantage over peers will be.

The fndings come from a study by the University of British Columbia Sauder School of Business.

The study is called “Beneficial ‘child labour’: The impact of adolescent work on future professional outcomes”

Study co-author and Sauder professor Marc-David L. Seidel says he indicates that teens working while also attending school seem to learn the importance of managing time effectively.

The study also says that the experience of working in an adult environment helps gives teens direction, i.e, a clearer picture of what they want from a career in the future, while preparing them as well for the “real world”

Many work hours is a positive benefit, but too many give negative results

Researchers used data from the Statistics Canada Youth in Transition Survey, representing 246,661 15-year-old Canadian teenagers, and looking at their work history over a 10-year period beginning at age 15 and ending at 25 in 2009.

The study does note that it was conducted in a developed country where the law protects children at work. Even so, some children are forced to work through financial necessity, rather than personal choice.

The number of hours spent at work that were found to be beneficial for teenagers were up to 33 hours per week during  the school-term and no more than 43 hours per week during summer break. Hours beyond these were seen to have a negative effect upon the students.