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Teen jobs

Whether your teen works during school years, from no job to summer only to part-time during the school year.

Should our teen have a job?

In short: Parents choose between 4 main approaches: No job, school first; Summer only; Part-time under about 20 hours; Encouraged or required. Evidence: evidence leans one way. Research or guidance points in a direction, but it's thin, small or correlational. Best settled: teen.

Evidence
Evidence leans one way
Best settled
Teen
Part of
Learning & the wider world

Teen jobs: what are the options?

Parents usually land on one of these 4 approaches.

  1. 1. No job, school first

    The teen does not work, so they can focus on school.

  2. 2. Summer only

    The teen works only in the summer.

  3. 3. Part-time under about 20 hours

    The teen works during the school year, up to about twenty hours a week.

  4. 4. Encouraged or required

    You want or require the teen to have a job.

Teen jobs: what does the evidence say?

Evidence leans one way. Research or guidance points in a direction, but it's thin, small or correlational.

More than 20 hours a week in the school year went with lower engagement and more substance use

Sources

What else is worth knowing?

A job teaches responsibility and gives a teen their own money. Long hours during the school year can cut into sleep and study. Summer work avoids that trade-off.

Questions to ask each other

  • Do we want our teen to work, and how many hours?
  • What would a job teach that school cannot?
  • What would make us say no?

More in The teen years

First published 2026-10-03. Last updated 2026-10-05. General information, not medical advice.