Categories: News

Teens are now “essential” workers, too

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, from April to July of 2019, 21.2 million people ages 16-24 were employed. The most common industries for youth jobs last summer included food, health, and education services. Now, many of the jobs were commonplace for youth workers—being a grocery store cashier, for instance—have become part of the “essential” workforce deemed critical during the Covid-19 pandemic. And in some families, teenagers are also the new essential income earners. Teen Vogue spoke with four teenagers who said they are working to make up for the income their parents lost due to the pandemic. On top of juggling jobs and schoolwork, these young people may also be managing very real risks to their health and safety. Aryam, a high schooler in Chicago, moved 30 minutes away from her immediate family in order to protect her grandfather, who lives in the family home, from exposure to any illness she might bring home from her job at Chipotle. “My family needed a source of income, so I decided to work and help out,” she said.

Related Post
The Counter
Share
Published by
The Counter

Recent Posts

Grist acquires The Counter and launches food and agriculture vertical

Grist, an award-winning, nonprofit media organization dedicated to highlighting climate solutions and uncovering environmental injustices,…

8 months ago

Is California giving its methane digesters too much credit?

Every year, California dairy farms emit hundreds of thousands of tons of the potent greenhouse…

3 years ago

Your car is killing coho salmon

Highway 7 runs north-south through western Washington, carving its way through a landscape sparsely dotted…

3 years ago

The pandemic has transformed America’s dining landscape into an oligopoly dominated by chains 

One of the greatest pleasures I had as a child growing up in the Chicago…

3 years ago

California is moving toward food assistance for all populations—including undocumented immigrants

Undocumented immigrants experience food insecurity at much higher rates than other populations, yet they are…

3 years ago

Babka, borscht … and pumpkin spice? Two writers talk about Jewish identity through contemporary cookbooks.

Writer Charlotte Druckman and editor Rebecca Flint Marx are both Jewish journalists living in New…

3 years ago