Getting a job as a teenager is a common practice nowadays—in fact, approximately 5.5 million teenagers were reported as part of the U.S. workforce in 2022. Whether you’re thinking of working part-time or getting a summer job, finding employment is a great way to earn money and learn how to be financially responsible from a young age.
If you’ve never had a job before or you’re on the fence about whether you should get a job, you may be asking yourself, “What is the value of work for teenagers?” In this article, we’ll present the main benefits of getting a job as a teenager and share some tips to help you improve your financial literacy.
Should Teenagers Have Jobs?
Whether you should get a job as a teenager will mainly depend on how busy you are with school. If you have enough free time to work and study without spoiling your grades and can manage your schedule well, you may consider getting a job.
However, if you’re overwhelmed with schoolwork, having a job may negatively impact your academic performance. In this case, you should revisit the idea of working when you have more free time, like during the summer break.
When Should a Teenager Get a Job?
The U.S. Department of Labor states that the minimum age for employment is 14, and it restricts the number of hours minors under 16 can work. This means that while you can consider getting a job after you turn 14, your options will be limited. Most teenagers, however, start working when they’re 16 or older as statistics reveal that 55% of young people aged 16 to 24 were employed in 2023.
Still, age isn’t the only factor at play when deciding if you should get a job as a teenager—you should also consider whether you feel ready to work. Juggling part-time work and school obligations requires:
- Good time management—Managing your time well allows you to schedule responsibilities effectively
- Great communication skills—Communicating clearly shows assertiveness and confidence, which is typically crucial for getting a job and keeping it
- Readiness to commit—Having a job requires you to commit to set work hours and days
If you want to get a job and possess these traits, you may be ready to start looking for work.
The Benefits of Having a Job as a Teenager
There are various reasons to get a job as a teenager—some may bring instant benefits, while others can benefit you in the long run. The main benefits of getting a job as a teenager include:
- Earning money
- Learning important skills
- Gaining experience
- Establishing professional connections
- Saving for the future
Earning Money
The most obvious benefit of working as a teenager is earning your own income. This allows you to make purchases without asking your parent for money, but it also helps you gain first-hand experience in money management since earning an income is a great opportunity to invest or save money.
Managing your finances can also make you feel more independent and empowered as you’ll get a glimpse of what it’s like to be an adult for the first time. You can even contribute to the household by helping your parents pay some of the bills to truly experience adulthood and prepare yourself for living on your own beforehand.
Learning Important Skills
While managing your time well and having good communication skills are important indicators of how you’ll fare in a future career, working as a teenager can help you improve these skills further and learn other ones in the process. Some common soft skills you may develop while working include:
- Speaking confidently
- Navigating conflict
- Solving problems effectively
- Improving interpersonal skills
- Working as a part of a team
All these skills will benefit you when you get to college or the adult working world—they’ll make you a better job candidate or college applicant, and you’ll have an easier time adapting to new environments.
Gaining Experience
One of the main reasons to get a job as a teenager besides earning money is to gain work experience. This can help you familiarize yourself with the working world so you don’t feel overwhelmed once you need to find a full-time job.
Working as a teenager also allows you to explore potential career paths—you may learn that you like working with people or decide that you’d like to run your own business. Even if you don’t gain insight into your future career, a part-time job is great for improving your CV as it can prove you’re responsible and well-versed in the skills needed for the job you’re applying for, such as collaboration, communication, and problem-solving.
Establishing Professional Connections
Networking can help you in your future career path by opening doors for valuable professional opportunities. The colleagues and employers you work with as a teenager or during college may end up helping you find a job in the field you like by writing you recommendation letters or informing you of job leads.
Even if your first job is unrelated to your preferred future career, maintaining good relationships with your colleagues and managers is important since you never know which professional connections they may have. The more connections you make as a teenager, the more benefits you’ll see once you start pursuing your career.
Saving for the Future
Taking on a part-time job as a teenager is a great way to save money for the future. Since your parents probably cover the bills, mortgage, and food expenses while you’re in high school, you can set aside a part of your paycheck for future expenses like:
- College tuition
- A car
- Housing
While you may not be able to save enough to cover the full cost of tuition or all car-related expenses, having some savings can help you get a head start.
You can also increase your savings by building a good credit history from a young age. Since most people can’t afford large purchases like a house or a car on their own, you’ll likely need a loan to help you out. To secure a loan with favorable terms and interest rates, you must have a good credit score. By establishing strong credit early, you can potentially save over $200,000 throughout adulthood since you’ll be able to obtain loans with favorable interest rates.
The best and easiest way to start building credit as a teenager is to rely on services like FreeKick. This platform offers parent-sponsored credit building for children as young as 13, helping you secure a solid financial foundation.
FreeKick—The Best Solution for Credit Building and ID Protection
Provided by Austin Capital Bank, FreeKick is an FDIC-insured deposit account that offers a parent-sponsored credit building service for minors and young adults aged 13 to 25. FreeKick also offers ID protection services to help protect the identities of your whole family of up to two adult parents and six children aged 0 to 25.
Start Building Credit Early With FreeKick
The CARD Act of 2009 makes it difficult for teenagers to build credit since it prohibits issuing credit cards to anyone younger than 21. While there’s an option for your parents to help you build credit by adding you to their credit card, your whole credit history will be lost once you’re removed from their card.
FreeKick helps you overcome this restriction by providing a credit building service to assist you in securing a good credit history with your parents’ help, starting from the age of 13.
Here are the steps your parents need to take to activate the credit building service:
- Create an Account—Go to FreeKick.bank and choose a plan that best fits your family’s needs and budget
- Set It and Forget It—As soon as the account is activated, FreeKick will automatically start building your credit over the next 12 months
- Keep Growing—After the first 12-month period ends, your parents can either close the account and get the full deposit back or renew it and keep building your credit
Keep Your Identity Protected With FreeKick
Keeping your credit profile safe is just as important as building it. Shocking statistics reveal that a child’s identity is stolen every 30 seconds, and not securing your credit history may make you an even bigger target.
FreeKick helps you protect yourself from identity criminals by providing comprehensive identity monitoring and protection features for minors and adults. Here’s what the service includes:
| Services for Adult Children and Parents | Services for Minor Children |
| Credit profile monitoring SSN monitoring Dark web monitoring for personal information Up to $1 million identity theft insurance Full-service white-glove concierge credit restoration Lost wallet protection Court records monitoring Change of address monitoring Non-credit (Payday) loan monitoring Free FICO® Score monthly FICO® Score factors Experian credit report monthly | Credit profile monitoring SSN monitoring Dark web monitoring for children’s personal information Up to $1 million identity theft insurance Full-service white-glove concierge credit restoration Sex offender monitoring—based on sponsor parent’s address |
FreeKick Pricing
FreeKick offers plans that suit every family’s needs and budget. There are two pricing plans, and the deposits on both plans are FDIC-insured up to $250,000. Find the details in the table below:
| FDIC-Insured Deposit Amount | Plan Fee |
| $3,000 | $0 (Free) |
| No deposit | $149/year |
Establish a strong credit profile early and protect yourself and your family from the risk of identity theft—sign up for FreeKick today.
