8. Do High-School Students With Jobs Make More Money Later in Life?

             Bourree Lam, an associate editor at The Atlantic, begun her article talking about jobs people may have in high school, and her own: working as a receptionist at her friend’s dad’s place. People believe working during their high school years will make them make more money later in life; but that isn’t necessarily true. According to economists Charles Baum’s and Christopher Ruhm’s recent paper, a group of kids who worked for 20 hours a week in the late 1970’s made 8.3% more money later in life than non-working students. However, students who had jobs in the late 1990’s made only 4.3% more than those who didn’t. They also discovered that working during their senior year in 1979 was predicted to decrease the probability of students working in the low-paid service sector, but increase for students in 1997. According to the U.S. Census, 71% of students in high school don’t work, but even so, 3.2 million students do. Also, historical data from the National Center for Education Statistics shows that from 1980 to 2009, the employment of 16- and 17-year-olds dropped from 35% to 15%. Economists say high school students who work will make more money later on because they will learn new skills and with them become more productive and valuable in the work place. Obviously, going to college is still the greatest wage booster. A Pew report in early 2014 showed that completing a bachelor’s degree increases the wage a person makes. As the National Center for Education Statistics suggests, working for over 15 hours per week can lower a students grades. So if a students has a hard time finishing their homework, it is better for them to stay at home and study rather than getting a job, because a high-school diploma is more likely to increase their future earnings rather than working during high school.  

            This article was a critic to the common belief that working during high school increases a student’s future wage. The common belief is that working will give you more life experience and consequently become better prepared for a future job. Lam does a great job in supporting her thoughts, using examples from economists’ papers or statistics from well-known institutes. She does, in addition to presenting information, give the reader a piece of advice, which is for struggling students to stay at home and study rather than getting a job in order to increase their future earnings. The article was very educational and the information presented successfully supported the author’s original thesis.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/09/do-high-school-students-with-jobs-make-more-money-later-in-life/379545/