jobs. Twenty-eight percent of White teenagers worked during the school year and
38 percent during the summer, a significantly larger percentage than for African
Americans (13 percent and 20 percent) or Hispanic youth (15 percent and 20 per-
cent). Boys are employed slightly more often than girls.
The average adolescent worker earned $5.57 per hour in 1998, slightly above
minimum wage, for about 17 hours per week during the school year and 23 hours
during the summer. Among the most common jobs for boys were stock handlers and
baggers, cooks, cashiers, and farm workers; for girls the most common jobs were
cashiers, sales clerks, waitresses, and child care providers. A small percentage of
adolescents were self-employed, most commonly in jobs also available to younger
children, such as mowing lawns (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2000).
Globally, the statistics are much different. In 2000, 246 million children aged 5 to
17 were in the workforce, one out of every six. Thirty percent of them were under
10 years old. The largest numbers appear in Asia and the Pacific, but sub-Saharan
Africa has by far the highest percentage of children under age 15 in the work force
(22.0 percent), followed by Asia (15.3 percent). By comparison, Europe has only 0.3
percent of children under 15 in the labor force (International Labour Organization,
2006) (Figure 11.8). These children and adolescents are not working for spending
money: They are contributing to family finances, often providing a major source of
income. Their jobs differ considerably from the teen workers in the United States: 70
percent are in agriculture, 8 percent in manufacturing, 8 percent in retail trade, and
only 7 percent in service industries, including domestic work and child care.374 CHAPTER 11AGE: FROM YOUNG TO OLD
JAlthough often stereotyped as lazy
slackers, American teenagers are also
industrious, productive, and hard-
working.JGlobally, nearly 250 million children
aged 5–17 are in the workforce, many
doing adult jobs. Thirty percent of child
laborers are under 10 years old. These
girls are working in a carpet factory in
Morocco.