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> kids that had a job, any job before age 18 make 35% more than their peers over their lifetime regardless of degree. I'm surprised by the magnitude but I can

by rurp 5y ago

> kids that had a job, any job before age 18 make 35% more than their peers over their lifetime regardless of degree. I'm surprised by the magnitude but I can see why this would be the case. Working teenagers probably correlate with having parents who value work. Plus it teaches some valuable skills early on. An entry level job can throw all sorts of uncomfortable challenges at you, which you are expected to handle in stride. I'd say there's a societal benefit as well, due to the empathy it promotes. Most people work very different jobs as an adult than they would as a teenager. Having more perspective on what other workers experience makes one more kind and reasonable in general.

sjostrom7 5y ago
You're probably also more able to work if your folks make enough money to have a stay-at-home parent (so you don't have to watch your younger siblings), buy you a car to get back and forth from your job, etc. Without seeing how they actually did this study, I'll go ahead and chalk most of this up to generational privilege.
- throwawayboise 5y ago
  My first job as a teen was delivering newspapers (not sure that's really an option anymore, though). I also cut lawns in the summer. All of that was on foot or bicycle. Didn't have a car until I was 18.
- rurp 5y ago
  Hmmm I'd want to see some data on this before drawing any conclusions, because my anecdotal experience is the opposite. The poor teenagers I knew pretty much all had jobs, in large part because they needed the money. Their only option to be able to buy new clothes or a used car was to earn the money themselves. Well off kids didn't have that same sort of pressure.
HNDen21 5y ago
If you for example do some open source projects between 15 and 18 and then get a job after finishing high school.. by the time the other person graduates college you will already have 4 years of experience and be a mid level/senior developer.. so you have a start of 4 years in terms of money as well as experience We only look at college degrees for people without experience... for people that have experience, we don't care about the college sine it is all outdated stuff anyway... the interview will tell us what we want to know
- rurp 5y ago
  This reminds me of some research I've seen supporting this effect. I can't remember the exact study but basically a large factory shut down putting a lot of people out of work, who were then offered free schooling to learn a new trade. After some number of years they looked back on those individuals and the ones who took the free training had actually done worse on average than the ones who had turned it down. The effect seemed to be just what you're describing. Even though most of the non-schooling group got worse jobs to start, they had several years of lead time to build experience and get pay raises which ended up being more valuable than the certificate or degree the other group got.

by rurp 5y ago

sjostrom7 5y ago

You're probably also more able to work if your folks make enough money to have a stay-at-home parent (so you don't have to watch your younger siblings), buy you a car to get back and forth from your job, etc. Without seeing how they actually did this study, I'll go ahead and chalk most of this up to generational privilege.

throwawayboise 5y ago
My first job as a teen was delivering newspapers (not sure that's really an option anymore, though). I also cut lawns in the summer. All of that was on foot or bicycle. Didn't have a car until I was 18.
rurp 5y ago
Hmmm I'd want to see some data on this before drawing any conclusions, because my anecdotal experience is the opposite. The poor teenagers I knew pretty much all had jobs, in large part because they needed the money. Their only option to be able to buy new clothes or a used car was to earn the money themselves. Well off kids didn't have that same sort of pressure.

HNDen21 5y ago

If you for example do some open source projects between 15 and 18 and then get a job after finishing high school.. by the time the other person graduates college you will already have 4 years of experience and be a mid level/senior developer.. so you have a start of 4 years in terms of money as well as experience We only look at college degrees for people without experience... for people that have experience, we don't care about the college sine it is all outdated stuff anyway... the interview will tell us what we want to know

rurp 5y ago
This reminds me of some research I've seen supporting this effect. I can't remember the exact study but basically a large factory shut down putting a lot of people out of work, who were then offered free schooling to learn a new trade. After some number of years they looked back on those individuals and the ones who took the free training had actually done worse on average than the ones who had turned it down. The effect seemed to be just what you're describing. Even though most of the non-schooling group got worse jobs to start, they had several years of lead time to build experience and get pay raises which ended up being more valuable than the certificate or degree the other group got.