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Starting a career at a young age has a great number of benefits for the youth and society overall.
Studies and research have shown the fruitful impact that youth employment can have on the world. If you’re a young student or the parent of a child and you’re not sure if it’s the right move, this guide will teach you the top benefits of youth employment.
Should everyone have a job before the age of 18 years old?
The simple answer to that question is yes. Youth employment has proven to help build young kids to be ready for the world’s job market as well as boost their self esteem and develop soft skills. The valuable work opportunity offered through summer work programs has been beneficial for its diverse workplace and the many different industries that have collaborated with summer programs to place kids in jobs of all kinds.
It’s also been proven that youth employment has reduced the number of crimes in communities through keeping teenagers busy with work opportunities during the summer.
Youth employment teaches skills for their career and their life
One of the biggest motivations for kids when it comes to working at a younger age is earning money. Whether it’s earning money for themselves to buy video games or the newest sneakers on the market, or to help their families with paying their home’s mortgage and bills, it’s a desirable reason for anyone to start working.
Another benefit aside from earning money is the soft skills they learn from jobs to prepare them for their career after their education and they’re most likely to get a job that is high paying as their first full-time job.
If you don’t know what soft skills are, they are the personal attributes and traits that show how a person communicates with others in social situations.
These soft skills are needed to success at any job and these skills include:
- Creative thinking: Ability to solve an issue, ability to analyze subjects, and being able to plan an organized structure of goals.
- Time management: Means to work more efficiently, be more productive, and finish work that is time-sensitive and has a short deadline instead of focusing on tasks that can wait.
- Teamwork: Ability to communicate with your coworkers and working in a group setting by collaborating and contributing.
- Problem Solving: Analyzing the problem and coming up with a plan that is effective.
- Critical thinking: Ability to find a solution by looking at data, facts, and research.
- Communication: Ability to communicate clearly through written and verbal communication.
These are some of the many soft skills that kids can perfect when they start working at a young age.
Other skills that teenagers can learn during the job are skills they can contribute into their lives. For example, if they work at a restaurant, they will develop culinary skills that will carry on with them through adulthood and might make them realize it’s a passion of theirs that they would have never thought of if it wasn’t for youth employment.
How can teens start looking for jobs?
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With the world’s constant update with technology and building sites to make anything easier than before, teens don’t have to worry about going from store to store, restaurant to restaurant, or company to company to find a place that will hire them.
Companies including restaurants and retail stores have made it easy for applicants to submit their resumes online.
There are sites and apps such as Peerro that have been developed to specifically be dedicated to finding a job. A lot of the sites and apps are free and a great source to create a strong work connection with employers.
The benefits of youth employment have been proven over the years.
Job requirements are constantly changing, and young workers need to be ready for any change in the work environment. Over the recent decades, youth employment has significantly decreased since the early 1990’s. In the 80’s teens spent their summer vacation working but the world has seen a decline in youth employment.
Researchers have shown that the reason for young people experiencing difficulties landing a job after graduating is due to the lack of previous employment and not having soft skills.
Entry-level jobs and unpaid internships are the only jobs young workers can have after graduating due to the lack of youth employment.
All working industries look for the most qualified applicant, their search for an employee includes looking at their previous work history and their soft skills. Having a college degree without developing any kind of soft skills can make searching for a job a long process and could take a long time to finally find a well-paying entry-level job.
Teens who work from a young age have better luck at receiving a high-paying entry-level job or a paid internship that turns into a full-time employment than teens who don’t have any experience working.
Challenges of youth employment
Youth employment and training has shown its importance for the country’s growing economy. Studies have shown that teens who don’t receive any training for their future jobs could lead to a bigger percentage of the number of homeless youth.
Building a stronger community starts with individuals who have been trained and learned to have great work ethics from a young age. In return, the community will overcome obstacles of facing a generation of teens who lack any passion or skills to make the world more efficient.
When you can start working and rules and regulation for youth employment
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The youngest age to start working is 14 years old. Many franchises and companies can only hire teenagers who are 16 years old and older, but 14-year-old kids can still have jobs like babysitting and mowing lawns.
Laws have changed to protect young workers and avoid the abuse of child workers. That includes restriction of the number of hours a young worker under the age of 16 can perform and occupations that can be seen as dangerous and hazardous.
Kids under the age of 16 can perform jobs for unlimited hours as long as it’s not hazardous. Nonagricultural positions are available for youths as long as they are 14 years old or older. Generally, labor laws for youth workers are less restrictive if the young worker is over the age of 16 years old.
Other rules include that young workers cannot be working during school hours and can only work three hours on school days, and eight hours on non-school days.
Some of the common jobs for young workers under the age of 16 years old are blogging, camp counselor in training, cashier, car wash attendant, dog walking, assisting writer, designers, and programmer with their work, teaching music, nursing home volunteer, and movie theatre employee.
Teenagers are not allowed to work doing jobs that involve roofing, explosives, ladder work, loading trucks, and many more.
Conclusion
The start of a great, promising career is in the hands of the young workers. Youth employment will make teenagers thrive to be better at everything they do, learn to succeed in life, and create a leading community. It’s better to start developing their work ethics young, than to try and build it at an older age.
