Summer jobs for teens (two questions)

[Crazy Dave]

A question for parents with teenage kids, how has this recession affected them job-wise and how has their lifestyles been affected by it? I had to work part-time during the school year and two summers full-time to save up for my first car.

And...

Is it even worth the high gas and auto insurance prices for teens to work anymore?

[madokie]

1. it would seem the only thing would be the experience of working

Friends 16 year old daughter is not making enough to pick up the fuel tab let alone the rest of the cost of an automobile and shes working in a clothing store selling womens clothes.

[Liberty Belle]

2. My teen works 2 jobs, but took jobs close to home.

She decided not to apply for slightly better jobs farther away because of the high cost of gas.

She is working at a Starbucks and in a veterinarian's office, getting experience caring for animals since she wants to become a vet.

But for people who live in rural areas, it is much harder. I talked to some Indian teens on a remote reservation in our county. They had to quit their jobs because it was costing them more in gas than the minimum wage salaries they were making, especially since employers only wanted short time shifts. The tribe really needs help.

[Crazy Dave]

3. Two jobs

Good for her :)

When my kids lived at home there were plenty of summer jobs, they just didn't want to work. When they did get off the playstation long enough to cut the grass half-ass they thought it was worth $50

[Maine-i-acs]

4. Job market is "tight"

Friend's daughter couldn't work at a sandwich shop during the summer - they have enough non-students seeking full time work that they didn't need any 'temp' summer workers.

This is unusual because these jobs are fairly low-wage and turnover is generally high. During a booming economy, people move up in the employment ladder. Summer tends to cause a need for 'student' help, but not so much this year.

[happyslug]

5. You had a Car??? I had to bike to my jobs.

I look at the distance I had to go, 6 1/3 mile one way, just to mow lawns (The owners of the lawns had to movers, they just wanted labor). I did such all jobs all through High School, I did save a couple of Hundred Dollars, but it all went for a down payment on my parent's home they purchased in 1974 (and still live in). They needed money for the Settlement costs and everyone who had money contributed to get out of the rat hole we had been living in.

Anyway, there was no way I was going to buy a car, furthermore when my family did move to their new house it was on the last Street car line in Pittsburgh. I even had to take the Streetcar in my new High School (The School District gave me a pass to use the Streetcar, a bus I abused, who needed a car?).

Now as you notice I was a teen in the early to mid 1970s. I did use a car for some jobs in Collage, but then I had access to my father's car, he took the streetcar to work. Even then you had to go to suburbia to find a summer job, which in most people's eyes means transportation by car. You can bike to most such places, but it is a long ride. Most teens can do such a bike ride. I had friend who had to walk to their jobs, so having a bike was good (And I even walked when I did not have a bike). Most of suburbia has no or terrible mass transit (if transit exists, does NOT run late enough for most teens work schedule). Thus most teens need a car to get to and from work. Some do not have to, like I did not have to, but those jobs are hard to find and getting harder.

My brother works for Toy R US as a manager and has had some problem with retaining employees do to high gasoline prices. Most retailers want to employ most of their employees on a part time basis (i.e. four hours a day). At that rate, most teens, who tend to have older cars, can NOT even fill their gas tanks, let alone anything else. If the only job you can get is part time and at minimum wage, (and that is what most teens get) it is hard to break even let alone save some money. This will get worse as the price of oil goes up.

[Crazy Dave]

6. Back in 1976 it took me two days to cut this woman's yard

It was a friend of one of my friend's parents and I said I would cut her yard for $8 (without seeing it first) which she said was too high and eventually I agreed to $6. When I got there you could tell her grass hadn't been cut for a very long time. The yard wasn't real big but the grass was about six inches high and it took one day to cut the front. My parents made me go back the next day and finish cutting the back (I didn't want to) and the woman still complained about even having to pay $6.

Edit - My friend's mom was pissed because she knew I worked real hard and she said the woman had plenty of money.

[melm00se]

7. my next door

neighbor's son lasted 2 days working for someone else...quit and now mows 20 lawns a week in our subdivision at $15 a pop...

jobs are where you make them...$300/week, 4 lawns a day (just about all you can do in the NC heat) not a bad gig for a 15 year old kid

[Crazy Dave]

9. Not at all

I'd be glad to help out any responsible teen who either wanted to cut my grass or was my cars.

[WCIL]

8. Mine are saving everything they can

They are both college students, and their money goes toward living expenses during the school year. My daughter works for Kohl's, and my son was very lucky and got a full-time, seasonal job with our city. They drive cars my husband and I own, and we also pay the insurance and for most of the gas. They buy their own clothes, toiletries, meals not covered by their meal plans, and all entertainment expenses. The jobs they had in high school (TCBY and counter man at the tennis club) did not pay nearly enough for them to even dream about having a car.

The expenses associated with having a car are so high, and part-time wages so low, we did not want our children working just for car expenses. The kids know how much gas costs, what it costs us to insure them and pay for licenses plates, what car repair costs are, etc. They are fully aware that when they graduate they will have to foot the expenses for a car themselves, if they want to have one. The deal we have worked out now works well, and they both budget very carefully.

[Crazy Dave]

10. We bought my step-daughter a fairly new car just for college

She never went and let her boyfriend tear it up completely in less than a year.

Welcome to DU WCIL :hi:

[WCIL]

11. Thanks for the welcome

and YIKES! about the car! We just dropped the bomb last night that since they will both be going to the same school in the fall, they will now be sharing a car. It went over better than I expected.

[Crazy Dave]

12. My two sons were really pissed about that

They said they were not going to college or take any courses at the local community college period therefore they got older cars my wife and I helped pay for. My step-daughter said she did want to go to a culinary school that was out of town. A newer car seemed like the right thing to do primarily for safety reasons. But she blew-off school, tore up the car, got arrested for writing bad checks for over $4k and that took up the rest of her education money she had from us. Then her dad died a year later, left her a home on a lake completely paid for and an even nicer vehicle completely paid for too plus $10k left over after the insurance paid everything. Two years later everything gone again.

[SoCalDem]

13. We never let our sons work while they were in school.

I saw too many kids sacrifice their school work for a paycheck. Our youngest could not have worked anyway, since he played club soccer, and varsity sports at school. His weekends were always "away-games"..sometimes in other states..

We also would not let them get a driver's license until their senior year..

I guess we were mean parents:).. They did some odd jobs for neighbors and we paid them to do the hard work around our own house, but we never thought a part-time fast food job was a good idea for them.. They thank us now..

One's a 6-figure computer guy
another's a crane operator for a steel fabricating company
the youngest has his own business, and is doing quite well too..

[Crazy Dave]

15. My kids never worked because they never wanted to

And they still think they don't have to work because life and I owe them everything they want or feel they're entitled to. As for myself, if my grades would have been affected my parents would not have let me work after school. Fortunately both of the jobs I had through high school were very student friendly. If the work was slack you were not allowed to sit around drinking sodas and smoking cigarettes but you could sit at a desk and do homework until 9pm when it was time to clock out.

[SoCalDem]

16. Our kids didn't get the entitlement-gene

Whew!!.. We never had a lot of money, and they knew it, so I guess they figured out Mom & Dad couldn't "carry" them:)

[Crazy Dave]

17. You might have read this from another post of mine yesterday

About a month ago my step-daughter and her boyfriend needed money (again) and thought it was perfectly fine to ask us, "well how much extra money do you guys have this week?".

Most of the time they try to call mom's cell phone but we got terrible service in our neighborhood.

[SarahB]

14. Fortunately, my (16 yo) daughter had a connection through her dad.

Works in food service (cafeteria/tray delivery) for a local hospital- $10/HR + shift differentials at times. She's per diem, but doing 40 hrs a weeks over the Summer to fill in for other people's vacation times. She works her butt off though.