Student Work and Educational Effects

Historically, student employment has been negatively associated with poor schooling outcomes for youth. During the late 19th and early 20th century, children who worked often did so in lieu of attending school and reflected an either-or relationship between students' employment and their promotion in school. Children of immigrants and those from very poor families often found themselves working in factories rather than going to school in order to contribute to their household income.

The passage of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act (also known as Federal Wage and Hour Law) outlawed child labor in an effort to reduce high rates of unemployment and shift these jobs to adults during the Great Depression. The passage of this act also set age limits and limited certain jobs that ...