Background Research
YOUTH EMPLOYMENT
The benefits and risks of adolescent employment (Attached below)
This article summarizes findings from the Youth Development Study, a long-term, ongoing longitudinal study that has followed a community-based panel from middle adolescence through early adulthood. The findings address this debate and support the final perspective--that the effects of teen employment on the successful transition to adulthood depend on its patterning through the years of high school (most invested, steady, sporadic, and occasional employment patterns) and its quality. Moreover, the YDS shows that patterns of teenage employment are linked to the social origins and motivations of youth upon entry to high school, and suggest that teenagers exercise agency as they build human capital during high school through education and work experience. The article concludes with a discussion of what parents, counselors, and others can do to help children make sound employment-related decisions during adolescence so as to assure effective career exploration and a successful school-to-work transition.
(Mortimer, J.T. (2010). Prev Res. January 1; 17(2):8-11.)
What do teenagers do with their earnings, and does it matter for their academic achievement and development? (Attached below)
This paper examines three decades of nationwide data from the Monitoring the Future surveys of high school seniors (more than 49,000 respondents from the classes of 1981-2011) to address three broad questions:
What do students who are employed during the school year do with their earnings, and has that changed much in recent years? Saving for future education or contributing to help out family needs rank below discretionary spending (clothing, music, hobbies, leisure activities, etc.) and cars. Over the last three decades there have been only modest changes in these uses of earnings.
Are different uses of earnings linked with different person characteristics? Teens who save more for future education are likely to have higher grades, greater college plans, and lower rates of substance abuse; they are also less likely to work long hours on a paid job during the school year.But it seems likely that such differences primarily reflect selection.
Does saving for college "protect" high school students from possible negative consequences of working long hours in a paid job? College savers who work long hours while in high school are less well off than those who work 15 hours per week or less. Moreover, follow-up surveys of Monitoring the Future participants showed distinctly lower rates of college completion of those same students continued in their early twenties and on to ages 29-30. The research findings clearly indicate that saving for college does not "protect" against possible negative consequences of working long hours on a job during the school year. We thus conclude that students who plan to save most of their earnings for college should be commended, but should still be encouraged to avoid spending long hours (more than 15/week) in employment during the school year.
(Bachman, J. G., Staff, J., O’Malley, P.M., Freedman-Doan, P. (2014). (Monitoring the Future Occasional Paper No. 78). Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan. Available at http://monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/occpapers/mtf-occ78.pdf.)
SOCIAL NETWORKS AND EMPLOYMENT
Social Networks and the Employment Problem of the Urban Poor. (Attached below)
This paper investigates the link between social networks and the ability to find a job through a personal contact among adult inner-city residents. Using data collected by the National Opinion Research Center that interviewed 2490 adult inner-city residents, the impact of network structure and composition on finding a job through word-of-mouth is estimated. Ethnic differences in the rate of finding jobs through word-of-mouth were found, as well as interesting ethnic and racial differences in the way social networks operate to connect job-seekers and job vacancies. Overall, the findings suggest that social networks account for some of the employment problems that many inner-city residents face. (D.A. Reingold. (1999). Urban Studies, Vol. 36, No. 11, 1907-1932.)
The effect of social networks and concentrated poverty on black and hispanic youth unemployment. (Attached below)
This paper examines empirically the effect of spatially concentrated poverty on minority youth employment and the role of "access" in youth labor markets. A model, in which information about jobs travels through social networks, links labor market outcomes and residential concentration of poverty. The empirical work uses U.S. Census employment data for the largest MSAs, in 1970 and 1980. The key findings are that, although concentration appears to have had no effect on black youth unemployment in 1970, the results for 1980 support "concentration effects" on unemployment for both black and hispanic youth. These effects are sizeable on average, and quite large in some cities. (K. M. O'Regan (1993). The Annals of Regional Science. 27:327-342.)
DISCONNECTED YOUTH
Disconnected Youth: A Look at 16-to 24-year Olds who are Not Working or in School. (Attached below)
Fernandes, A. L., & Gabe, T. (2009). Disconnected Youth: A Look at 16-to 24-year Olds who are Not Working or in School. DIANE Publishing.
YOUTH EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS
Better Prepared for Adulthood: A Study of Implementing a Public High School Pilot Internship Program through Action Research (Attached below)
A public high school pilot internship program for (~20) senior students interested in work-based learning opportunities was implemented. The purposes of the study were self-directed learning, skills development (Partnership for 21st Century Skills), and adult mentorship. The data from the study suggest that a public high school internship can provide the developmental opportunities for interested students to improve skills and affect post-high school decisions. The evidence identifies the importance of relationships and connections among school administration, community leaders, and employers. Second, practices were identified to develop students, inform mentors, and provide feedback for a continual improvement cycle. Lastly the evidence confirms that when students are afforded work-based learning opportunities with a supportive program, all can report progression in preparedness for adulthood regardless of type of career field or levels of self-advocacy. (Miner, C. (2016). (Doctoral Dissertation). Retrieved from UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations.)
Preparing Teens for Success: Building 21st Century Skills through a 4-H Work-Based Learning Program. (Attached Below)
To address issues of workforce preparation, Extension educators at an urban 4-H education center created the Job Experience and Training (JET) program, a work-based learning program for teens. JET is conducted over a six-month period, culminating in an eight-week summer work experience in collaboration with a local park district. Supervisors and teens completed a performance appraisal measure based on SCANS workforce skills at two points during the program. Both teens and supervisors provided written comments addressing teens' strengths and areas for growth as well as comments on their satisfaction with the program itself. (T.M. Ferrari, N. Arnett, G. Cochran. 2007.)
Relationships come first: How four career development programs and workforce readiness programs prepare young people for work and life. America's Promise Alliance (2016). (Link)
Summary of findings:
Relationships come first. Each program places relationship-building between young people and program staff at the forefront of their models.
Webs of support are integral to the program design. In each program, there’s more than just one adult focused on the young people’s well-being and development. They have what the researchers refers to as a web of support—a network of individuals that provides a young person with varying levels and types of support.
Relationships endure and extend beyond the program. Each program fosters webs of support for their participants beyond the program.
Relationship-building approaches differ depending on whom the program serves. Each program takes a different approach to relationship-building, depending on the needs and strengths of the young people they serve.