What is inflation? Here’s how it works and what it means for you.
Here’s what you need to know about inflation and the factors that can cause it.
At 18, Michelle Chen pays her cell phone bills and school expenses. She’s saving money for college. And with her earnings from a summer job with Boston’s SuccessLink Youth Employment Program, she helps her parents stock the refrigerator when the shelves are empty and makes sure her two younger brothers have an allowance.
Chen, who studied nursing this fall at Simmons University in Boston, said she started working in the fourth grade when her family ran a Chinese takeout restaurant. Since then, she’s worked in social media marketing for a hair care company and as a coding instructor, learning soft skills not typically taught in school, like teamwork and time management.
Those skills, she said, help her thrive in her classes. And the extra pocket money means she can contribute to her family’s expenses.
“I’ve done a lot of programs with underrepresented students my age all over Boston, and I’ve noticed that a lot of my peers are contributing to their families with their income,” said Chen, who is Chinese American.
With consumer prices rising more than 20% over the past three years, more teens are looking for jobs to help their financially struggling parents.
More than half of teens work to help pay for household expenses like rent, utilities and groceries, or to cover their own expenses, such as a cell phone, clothing and shoes, according to Alicia Sasser Modestino, a professor of economics and public policy at Northeastern University.
Research shows that the percentage of young people paying for household bills is increasing, with two-thirds paying for household bills in some way.
About 64% of parents living with children under 18 said they would feel financially secure in 2023, up from 69% in 2022, according to a Federal Reserve survey released in May.
“If you look at where rents have gone, where grocery prices have gone, it is absolutely essential for teenagers to work in the summer,” Modestino said.
Why are more teenagers working?
Teen labor force participation is recovering after decades of decline dating back to the 1970s. The June labor force participation rate for people ages 16 to 19 was 37.4%, according to the month’s jobs report — up nearly 3% from the year before, and hovering near levels not seen since 2009, during the Great Recession.
Just as during the financial crisis of the late 2000s, many teens are being driven to work by financial necessity, said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an outplacement and executive and business coaching firm. He expects employers to add 1.3 million teen jobs this summer.
“There is no shortage of applicants,” said John Linehan, president and CEO of Zoo New England in Massachusetts, an employer that partners with the city of Boston’s youth employment program.
Modestino said the increase in teen employment is a combination of push and pull factors. Employers are looking for extra help to fill entry-level positions in a tight labor market, while teens are looking for extra income to combat inflation.
But it’s not just money that teens are after. Teens are hungry for more social interaction after months of isolation during the pandemic.
“COVID made me shy. I wasn’t really social. But when I started this job, it took me out of my comfort zone and helped me talk more and make new friends,” said Mia Gardner, 16. Gardner makes at least $15 an hour as part of the City Spotlights Summer Leadership Program at the Boch Center, an arts and culture nonprofit and an employer partner of the City of Boston’s youth employment program.
Increasingly, teens are working to cover their own expenses. Alexandria Hibbler, 19, says she’s working at the Las Vegas Municipal Court this summer to boost her savings and “live a little,” spending money on things like nails, hair, food, clothes and vacations.
Other teens choose summer jobs to better prepare themselves for a career after high school.
Saleena Johnson, 17, works three jobs, including a gig at Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo through the ZooTeen program. This summer — her second at the zoo — she was assigned to the children’s section, where she helps care for owls, goats and chickens.
Johnson dreams of a future as a veterinarian or zookeeper and said her role at the zoo is preparing her for that. A $15 hourly wage means she can save for college and prepare to buy a car.
“I want to make other people happy and I want to help animals,” she said, “but college is very expensive.”
Challenger said jobs teach teens skills they would otherwise “never learn in school” and can help graduates build their resumes.
Kayla Washington, 19, a student at Prairie View A&M University in Texas, says she works at an all-African family practice through the Strong Future Las Vegas Youth Employment Program to gain work experience to help her resume stand out after college.
“If you don’t have a good resume, you won’t be taken seriously,” she said.
But students who aren’t pursuing a four-year degree are also benefiting. With some universities estimating the cost of attendance for the upcoming academic year to be nearly $100,000, more families are reconsidering the cost and looking at pre-apprenticeship programs, trade schools, the military or entering the workforce directly.
Modestino says summer jobs and part-time work during the school year can help teens discover which career path is best for them.
“If you don’t go to college, you definitely need work experience to figure out what you would like to do other than go to college,” Modestino said.
Are there risks associated with too much work?
Research shows that having a job leads to higher high school graduation rates, less involvement in criminal justice, and higher wages.
But there is also such a thing as too much work for teenagers.
A 2011 study from the University of Washington found that students who worked during the school year had similar academic performance as other students, as long as they worked less than 20 hours per week. Working 20 hours per week or more during the school year was associated with a decline in academic performance and more behavioral problems.
J’Mia Byrd, a site coordinator for the dropout prevention program Communities In Schools of Atlanta, said she has seen firsthand the negative effects of overwork iin her work, which involves tracking teenagers’ school performance and attendance.
“They can leave at 6 in the morning and sometimes they come to school, sometimes they don’t,” Byrd said.
More teens are joining
A car accident in 2021 left 34-year-old Philadelphia resident Annabel Moldonado with migraines and light and sound sensitivity, affecting her ability to work. Since then, her son has done what he can to help out.
Arad Ginez, 16, has worked at an energy company, a daycare center and, since this summer, at Bank of America’s Financial Center Internship Program. Some of the money goes toward rent. Some toward school supplies. And some toward food for his three siblings.
“I can’t repay her for everything she’s done for me, but I’m trying,” Ginez said.
“The fact that things are more expensive means that more families have less money left over for the other things that teens might want, clothes, going out to eat or going to the movies,” said Modestino of Northeastern University. “That’s when a lot of parents turn to their kids and say, Great, go get a job so you can pay for those extracurricular activities that you might want to do.”
Moldonado said she initially resisted having her son get a job because she was worried it would affect his grades. But even though Ginez said work can make it harder to keep up with extracurricular activities and homework, he tries to get his homework done during school hours and so far has managed to maintain a spot on the honor roll.
“He proved me wrong,” Moldonado said. “I can’t express how proud I am.”
