From babysitting to lifeguarding to food service, teenagers understand the hustle.
According to research from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 53.1% of 16-24 year olds had jobs in July of 2025. Senior Nate Salamon is among those with jobs; he works 30 hours a week as a sales adviser at Best Buy in Geneva.
Salamon has found, like many others, that working has great financial benefits. As a student, relying on parents for recreational money can make you feel greedy or like a burden. Being able to pay for your own things allows you to indulge and have more financial freedom.
Since starting his job a year and a half ago, Salamon said that his “bank account has never looked better.”
Besides obvious financial benefits, there are mental and social advantages.
“[Working] gives you a sense of accomplishment,” Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher Eric Baron said.
By having a job, your hard work is literally paying off. Being able to have tangible proof that your time is well spent can give you a feeling of pride when your shift ends.
In addition, work gives you valuable life skills that are difficult to learn anywhere else. Work teaches you discipline because, unlike school, you are there to help, not the other way around. When you have a job, you have to be there on time, use your time wisely and be careful and thorough with your work.
Baron thinks working “prepares you to be an adult a little bit sooner” because of the weight of responsibility. Working also helps you develop practical skills.
“Getting along with other people and social skills are huge,” Baron said. “If you’re polite – smile, wave, talk to people – those things are going to get you far.”
One of the biggest reasons people don’t get a job is the amount of time involved. Jobs are a time commitment that can be hard to make work with most after-school activities and sports. This problem can be solved by choosing the right job.
“You need to be on top of things, and you need to schedule yourself really well,” Baron said.
Independent jobs like babysitting, yard work or tutoring are great ways to have flexible hours that work with your time. Other people have industry jobs but choose their hours by working as a shift cover and picking up shifts when they can.
But for those with less busy schedules, retail and service jobs are great for high school students. They teach you how to interact with a range of different people while keeping your emotions in check. Learning how to be professional is a skill that should be required no matter where you are headed in life.
It’s important to make the job work for you, not the other way around.
“Right now, I have all the time in the world,” Salamon said. “I won’t have nearly the same amount of free time when I go to college. I’m trying to save up as much as possible before I leave.”
Jobs and finances are realities that everyone will face at some point in their lives. Facing these realities head on while still in a controlled environment prepares students for their independence later on.
“I believe almost every student should have a job,” Salamon said. “It’s a great learning experience for students and helps them understand money management at a young age.”
