WORKING TEENS

	July 18, 2000
	Teenagers in the workplace. Lee Hochberg of Oregon Public Broadcasting reports.

TEEN: All right. CUSTOMER: Thank you. TEEN: You're welcome. LEE HOCHBERG: The teenagers behind the counter at Spud's Fish and Chips in suburban Seattle are as much a part of the atmosphere as the fish itself. This summer, 22 teenagers will fry and flip and serve the fish that customers line up for. Like many fast food establishments, Spud's hires mostly teenage employees. Nationwide, 80% of teens hold after-school or summer jobs. Half of 12th-graders work more than 20 hours a week during school, a significant jump since the last generation of teens. Andrew Schetzle says he does it to pay for his car. ANDREW SCHETZLE, Spud Fish and Chips:> I just like to have it since I'm 16 and I can get one now. It's just nice to have, so I can listen to my own music. CHRIS ZASCHE, Spud Fish and Chips: You've got to have money to pay for stuff. LEE HOCHBERG: Pay for what? CHRIS ZASCHE: Skateboards. That's all I pay for, and car insurance. LEE HOCHBERG: You rarely hear, at least in this middle-class Seattle suburb, that they're working to support the family, or even save money for college. That's no surprise, says Mary Miller of Washington State's Department of Labor and Industries. MARY MILLER, Washington State Department of Labor & Industries: Part of it is a conspicuous consumption that's been going on in our culture over the last 20 years or so, and kids are very specifically marketed to, you know? Cars, designer clothes, I mean that's clearly part of what is motivating kids to work. LEE HOCHBERG: Employers hungry for workers in the hot economy are happy to snatch the low-wage teens. Spud's manager Pat O'Brien says his workers begin at minimum wage. PAT O'BRIEN, Manager, Spud Fish and Chips: Really to hire somebody older, I can't afford to pay them more just because of their age. I've got a budget I can afford to pay, and minimum wage in this state is $6.50. LEE HOCHBERG: The question is, is all of the work good for teenagers? Despite the money and the responsibility and self-esteem some say they get on the job, there's increasing evidence that they may be overdoing it. MARY MILLER: Except under certain circumstances, I don't think kids should be working during the school year more than 20 hours a week. LEE HOCHBERG: A National Research Council study concludes too many teens are working too many hours in dangerous jobs. Federal child labor laws ban teens from such hazardous jobs as working on roofs. And they prohibit 14- and 15- year-olds from working more than 18 hours a week during the school year. Though there's no federal law regarding the hours worked by those 16 and older, some state laws cover them. But a Rutgers University report found American businesses employ 150,000 teens in violation of those laws, saving themselves $155 million a year. EMERGENCY TECHNICIAN: ...Blood pressure at 117... LEE HOCHBERG: Teens are injured at a rate twice that of working adults. 100,000 teenagers a year come into emergency rooms after job injuries. 70 die on the job. A 15-year-old Seattle boy shattered his skull and died after falling four stories from the roof of this building two years ago. Brian Schwartz was working as a window washer when the rig to which he was tethered tore loose. The state fined Schwartz's employer for allowing the underage teen to work above ground level, in violation of state law, and inadequately training him. The teenager likely was too inexperienced to recognize the unsafe setup. MARY MILLER: They have different level of judgment, their perception of risk and vulnerability differs. They are expecting it to perhaps be a safe environment, you know? "Why would they ask me to do something dangerous?" LEE HOCHBERG: Miller says even when employers follow safety laws, the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act which sets some of those laws has fallen out of date. MARY MILLER: They haven't kept up with the times. Deep fat fryers have been found to be extremely hazardous, and contribute to many injuries, or meat slicers, or, you know, the boom in construction where there's an increased demand for workers. LEE HOCHBERG: The very act of being in the workplace can put teens at risk. A Colorado high school student and his girlfriend were slain in February as the student prepared to close the sandwich shop where he'd worked the late shift. One quarter of teen deaths in the workplace are caused by violence, usually a robbery. Teens often are left by themselves in restaurants or groceries to guard cash registers late at night. TEEN: Give me your money and put it in the bag. Hurry up. OTHER TEEN: I'm going to push the button to get the money. LEE HOCHBERG: Safety experts say employers should offer armed robbery training courses like this one given recently to employees at Spud's. Although there have been no holdups at the restaurant, teen workers got advice on how to handle one from retired Spokane police officer John Moore. JOHN MOORE, Crime Safety Trainer: How intimidating is this? How intimidating is this weapon? TEENS: Very intimidating. JOHN MOORE: Very intimidating. So we're likely then to look where? TEEN: At the gun? JOHN MOORE: Everywhere but the gun. If you don't look at the robber, your risk level goes up. I guarantee it. The point here is you don't physically resist this. TEEN: What if it's just, like, some small guy and, you know he doesn't have a gun on him? TEEN: Well, I mean, if they got it to your back, you can lean back into it. That's what my dad said you can do. JOHN MOORE: You shouldn't do it. We don't do that kind of thing because it only takes one mistake to get a whole bunch of people hurt. JOHN MOORE: The younger people... "Nothing can happen to me. I mean, I can't get hurt." They may not know, for example, that they don't resist a holdup.* I mean, because of watching television, they wouldn't have a clue. LEE HOCHBERG: For all of the concerns about physical dangers, the larger question is whether school, and not paid labor, should be a teen's real job. The National Research Council finds teens who work more than 20 hours per week are less likely to finish high school and more likely to use drugs. Some teachers at Juanita High School, where the Spud employees go, say half of their students work 40 or more hours per week during the school year. GAIA HAWKIN, High School Teacher: By the junior or senior year, a very large number of the kids come to school and they fall asleep promptly. And when you wake them up, they'll tell you that that they're just tired, and they'll say, "well, I had to close the store last night. The person who was supposed to close the store didn't show up." CHRIS ZASCHE: You get home and you have all this homework, and sometimes you just don't want to do it. It's just like... I don't know, it's just too late and you just... So every once in a while, you know, you just don't do your homework. LEE HOCHBERG: Teacher Gaia Hawkin says half of her 150 students are performing below ability. GAIA HAWKIN: The price is too high. Their job is school. Their job is learning. Once you have learned how to say "do you want French fries with that?", You have kind of run out of the growth at the job level that they are doing. LEE HOCHBERG: Washington State officially requires teacher approval before students are allowed to work, but schools and employers seem to be getting around it. LEE HOCHBERG: The teachers never signed off on it -- there was no form? BRIAN McCAULEY, Spud Fish and Chips: No. GAIA HAWKIN: I have never been asked to approve or disapprove. I have never had a counselor or anyone say to me, "this kid has applied for a work permit. How are they doing in your class?" CUSTOMER: I'll have a number 24. LEE HOCHBERG: With demand for teen workers showing no sign of ebbing, the National Research Council recommends Congress limit the work hours and types of jobs available to 16- and 17-year- olds. One bill would cap their hours at 20 a week during school. Younger teens could work only 15 hours a week. But the bill is stalled in the House Education and Workforce Committee, and is unlikely to become law this session.