Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Boys, girls equally likely to be employees by age 17

December 21, 2001

Female youths were less likely than male youths to hold an employee job while age 15. About 35 percent of young women held an "employee" job when they were 15; about 43 percent of young men held an employee job at that age.

Share of youths holding 'employee' job, by age and sex, 1995-2000
[Chart data—TXT]

By age 17, this gender gap disappeared. Nearly 80 percent of youths, male or female, held an employee job while age 17.

These data are from the National Longitudinal Survey. The survey respondents were ages 12 to 17 when first interviewed in 1997, and the oldest were age 20 when interviewed a third time in 1999-2000. Those with "employee" jobs have an formal relationship with a particular employer, such as a restaurant or supermarket. Those with "freelance" jobs perform tasks such as babysitting or yard work, but have no formal job arrangement. For more see news release USDL 01-479, "Employment Experience Of Youths: Results From The First Three Years Of A Longitudinal Survey".

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Boys, girls equally likely to be employees by age 17 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2001/dec/wk3/art05.htm (visited March 28, 2024).

OF INTEREST
spotlight
Recent editions of Spotlight on Statistics


triangle