School demands a large time commitment. If students also participate in extracurricular and challenging classes with a lot of homework, there isn’t much free time to relax. What if that time was filled with a job? Working over the summer can be extremely beneficial to develop good time management habits, earn money and learn valuable skills, but working during the school year just causes unneeded stress.

There are many rules surrounding working teenagers, especially regarding younger teenagers. According to the Department of Labor, if a worker is under 14, available jobs are limited to jobs like babysitting and newspaper delivery. Between 14 and 15, the list expands to retail, food service and lifeguarding. Teenagers can also only work 3 hours or less per day on school days and are limited to 18 hours of work while school is in session. Only when students are 16 and 17 can they work unlimited hours in nonhazardous jobs.

“The labor force participation rate — a measure of how many teens are working or looking for work — has ticked up over the past year,” said CNN reporter Patrick Gillespie, “That’s a sign that teens are getting more confident that they can find a job.”

Some teenagers’ incomes are vital for their family’s well being, others use their money for things like clothes or a car, but in most cases, a large portion of many teens’ incomes go to post-high school education. College is getting more and more expensive, since just as recently as 1995, average tuition costs have risen nearly 180 percent according to usanews.com.

“For some students, especially those in traditionally underserved populations, taking a job is not a matter of choice, but necessity,” said the Advanced Placement course website Collegeboard.org, ” They need to work to save for college or even to supplement family income.”

The downside to working during the school year is that there is less time for homework and things like sports which are also valuable for establishing good health habits.

“Going from school to extracurricular activities and then to a job means having to do homework late at night, or, in some cases, working ahead during the weekends in order to ensure everything is complete for the coming week,” said Caitrin Blake of the Concordia University in her article, Professional Students, “It’s possible for students to overcommit themselves out of a desire to make more money or because they are not yet adept at time management.”

What students choose to do with their time, sports, school, jobs and whatever else interests them, is ultimately up to the individual. Everybody’s situation is different, and the goal for students should to find out what’s best for them. Jobs can teach valuable skills like time management and career training, but they can also distract from homework, extracurricular and social life. The possibilities are endless and it’s up to the individual to decide what to do with their time but it is important to know that jobs can often just cause anxiety.