Socio-demographic Differences Between Employed and Unemployed Teens: Findings From School-Based Surveys

Background: National survey data on teen employment have limitations. Local data are important for supplementing information on subpopulations to be targeted when designing educational interventions for young workers.

Methods: Survey data were collected from 189 randomly selected classes in 32 randomly selected high schools in North Carolina and South Carolina in fall 2005. In North Carolina, 844 (44%) of a total of 1938 surveyed teens were employed while in South Carolina 814 (45%) teens were employed out of a total of 1809 surveyed teens. Chi-square analyses compared employed and unemployed teens on: age, grade, race, gender, paternal education and employment, family type, language barrier, and urban and rural locations.

Results: Findings had similarities as well as differences from those of national surveys. In both states, white teens were more likely to be employed than African American teens, and teens of other races. Teens 16 years and older and those in higher grades were more likely to be employed than teens under 16 and those in lower grades.

In North Carolina, male teens were more likely to be employed than female teens, and fathers of employed teens had lower level of education than fathers of unemployed teens. In South Carolina, teens from urban counties were more likely to be employed than teens from rural counties. In North Carolina 39% of employed teens worked in multiple jobs compared to 44% in South Carolina.

Conclusions: Findings have implications for educational interventions aimed at sub-populations of youth at risk of adverse consequences of employment.