Why do Teenagers Work? The Youth Labor Force in the United States and Other Industrialized Countries

• In Event: 434 - Section on Children and Youth Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 07. Transitions to Adulthood

Abstract

This paper explores the work decisions of teenagers in the United States and compares them to their counterparts in other industrialized countries. Using logistic regression on World Vales Study data, our findings show that the teenager labor force in the United States is very unique due to its composition and the motives behind wok. In other industrialized countries teenager, who work tend come from more lower-ses backgrounds and work for economic reasons, while the teenage labor force in the United States is dominated by more affluent teenagers, who work for social benefits.

Author

• Yasemin Besen-Cassino, Montclair State University