part-time job; by the time of graduation from high
school, 80 percent will have held at least one part-
time job.
The perceived potential benefits of youth em-
ployment include earning money, gaining relevant
work experience, achieving autonomy, easing the
transition from school to work, and developing work
attitudes. Youth employment also provides employ-
ers with a ready supply of unskilled and inexpensive
labor. Further, parents approve, believing that such
experiences foster independence, responsibility, and
improved attitudes toward school.
Further endorsements of youth employment
come from Katherine Newman, who studied the em-
ployment experiences of Harlem youths and pub-
lished her results in 1996. She found that although
many young adults were in low-wage, seemingly dead-
end ‘‘McJobs,’’ these employment experiences also
had many (sometimes hidden) benefits. Despite the
fact that these jobs were tiring, boring, stressful, poor-
ly compensated, stigmatized, and offered limited op-
portunities for advancement, the youths perservered
because of a strong work ethic and a desire to develop
and sustain an identity as someone who works. Fur-
ther, these jobs allowed the teens to contribute to the
survival of their poverty level households, leading to
increased self-esteem and pride. Some youths were
motivated by these low-end jobs to save part of their
earnings for future educational and job training op-
portunities, essentially turning a dead-end job into a
stepping stone for a career. Newman also found that
participation in an employment setting shifted the
youths’ reference group away from out-of-school
peers, into the workplace, and onto employed adult
role models.
Contrary to the prevailing wisdom regarding the
value of youth employment, some researchers have
concluded that it can be harmful to academic and so-
cial development. For example, Jerald Bachman and
John Schulenberg found in their nationally represen-
tative sample of high school seniors, that work inten-
sity (the number of hours worked per week) was
associated with behavioral problems as well as dimin-
ished time for sleep, eating breakfast, exercising, and
dating. These findings, however, do not negate the
potential for part-time work to be beneficial when ex-
perienced under the right circumstances. Defining
the optimal type of job and intensity of work experi-
ence for producing positive effects in high school se-
niors is a task for future researchers. In particular,
attention needs to be paid to the quality of the work
experience in addition to its quantity. Further, Bach-
man and Schulenberg compared outcomes for em-
ployed versus not-employed youth in school. They
did not examine the impact of employment specifi-
cally for out-of-school youths for whom employment
(as opposed to postsecondary education) is the most
viable pathway to adult self-sufficiency.Youth Employment for Out-of-School and
Disadvantaged Youth
In light of the importance of youth employment
for disadvantaged youths, it is unfortunate that they
face what researchers have called a ‘‘web of mutually
reinforcing circumstances and behaviors’’ that makes
a successful attachment to the labor market extremely
difficult. Such circumstances include the deteriora-
tion of the labor market in urban communities, over-
whelming personal and family issues that would
distract even the most dedicated student and worker,
and a mismatch between employer demands and the
skills of entry-level workers. Indeed, lack of skills and
lack of preparation for the workforce have been cited
as among the most important reasons for the failure
of youths to obtain long-term employment.
Lack of preparation for the transition from
school to work is problematic for many minority
youths. In general, high school students are ill-
prepared for the world of work, a problem that is ex-
acerbated by high school guidance counselors’ exclu-
sive focus on postsecondary education. An
Educational Testing Service survey published in 1981
found that almost half of all students never talked to
a guidance counselor about possible future occupa-
tions. These non-college-bound youths received little
or no support or guidance in making a successful
transition to the work force, often leading to a period
of ‘‘floundering’’ as these young adults entered the
labor market. As Gary Orfield and Faith Paul noted,
‘‘students not bound for college need the most help,
receive the least assistance, are equipped with the
most limited information, and experience the great-
est risks in the job market’’ (Mendel 1995). Minority
youths comprise one of several groups for whom this
chaotic entry into the labor market is particularly
harmful. According to Richard Kazis, the employ-
ment picture for black and Hispanic young Ameri-
cans who do not make it to college is so bleak that it
constitutes a serious school-to-work crisis.
Access to and identification with adults who have
developed labor force attachments are also critical to
an adolescent’s successful entry into employment. Yet
Edwin Farrell found in 1990 that at-risk minority
youths have limited involvement with gainfully em-
ployed adult role models. Their understanding of the
process of getting and maintaining employment was
often limited, unrealistic, and inaccurate. Taken to-
gether, these data paint a picture of disadvantaged
youths who are more likely to fail in school and less436 WORKING IN ADOLESCENCE