Many students throughout high school make the decision to get a part time job, giving them an early opportunity to earn money. Earning money while still in school can give students an advantage, not only giving them spending money but students can also put that money into a place such as a savings account for the future. Students can put this money towards multiple things, such as a car or college.

A considerable number of students aim to save money and use it for important things in the future while also building real world experience in the workplace, developing management skills and responsibility in order to be more ready for wherever they go after high school. Taken from our own poll, on average around 56.7% of high-schoolers have a part-time job by their Sophomore year, meaning that many students are taking advantage of this recent spike of small part time jobs.

“The ability to learn how to be a proper employee is important because it is a very important part of growing and becoming a hardworking individual,” senior Josie Brenckle said.

Some students that are taking courses at Beaver County Career and Technology Center (CTC) get the opportunity to experience what a job could be like. CTC has many programs that allow students to get used to jobs they may be interested in doing when they graduate. For example, several students in CTC are in a welding program that can provide them with real-life welding experience. Although the welding program at CTC isn’t an actual part time job, this is a great opportunity for students that are interested in getting into an apprenticeship in many different classes that offer part time, or even actual full time jobs after graduating high school. And many more opportunities are available including construction, healthcare, finance, etc. given to students to provide a way for them to be prepared for their future.

Part time jobs have become dramatically less popular over the past few years as many students that are still in high school, mainly the result of the last of the pandemic from 2020. Covid-19 has damaged the economy as businesses shut down, causing many people to be let go from their jobs. This mass unemployment led to inflation in the U.S. to sky-rocket and many people couldn’t afford most basic needs. But as the last small amount of the virus remains, most businesses opened back up and started to hire more people. Including big corporations such as Walmart, Target, Costco and other large companies. All are beginning to hire more people and deescalate the amount of unemployment within the nation, while also giving students the opportunity to earn some extra cash.