Combining school with part-time work: Empirical findings from germany

Abstract

This article begins by outlining the current state of research into the issue of part-time work taken by secondary school students. The findings for Germany are based on a childhood and youth survey (AID:A). The survey population comprises school students aged 13 to 17 (N = 2,763). As young people’s primary motive for taking a job while at school is to earn income, their financial position with and without jobs is included in the study. About one third of the students have jobs. Thus young people operate simultaneously in parallel worlds (school, family, peer group, youth culture, work environment). The proportion of school students with jobs increases markedly with age. No detriment to voluntary commitments or school achievement results from having a job. Students from lower-income households take jobs more frequently, but earn less income from them than do students from higher-income households. In broad terms, part-time jobs provide appreciable additional freedom of manoeuvre in young people’s budgets. This in turn facilitates participation in consumption-based youth culture. The article ends with a reflection on research deficits and a discussion of anticipated developments in the part-time labour market.