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

Authors

  • Eric van Santen German Youth Institute Nockherstrasse 2 81541 Muenchen Germany
  • Benjamin Fillisch University of Education Freiburg
  • Claus Tully Privatdozent Free University of Berlin, Germany Vertragsprofessor University of Bozen/Bolzano, Italy

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.

Keywords

school performance, budget, students, job, youth, economic conditions

Author Biography

Claus Tully, Privatdozent Free University of Berlin, Germany Vertragsprofessor University of Bozen/Bolzano, Italy

Sociologist, industrial engineer and Privatdozent at the Free University of Berlin, Germany, contract professor at the University of Bozen/Bolzano, Italy and supervising university teacher at the graduate school Mobi LAB at the Technical University in Munich, Germany. Research interests: youth, sociology of technology, mobility, (sustainable) consumption and informal learning.

Published

2015-03-27

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