According to Pew Research Center, during the COVID-19 pandemic, teen summer jobs fell to their lowest point since the Great Depression. Only 30.8% of those aged 16-19 had a job during the summer. With this drastic shift in students working nationwide, the results showed similar trends in Oakwood.

A survey was sent out to the student body in regards to their employment. Results have determined that 38.5% of all 91 respondents in grades 9-12 have some sort of job, and 61.5% of respondents say they do not have a job. Of those with jobs, 34.43% of students work in some sort of service industry. Similarly, 28.6% of students work in the food industry and only 2.9% of students work in retail. 

The largest percentage of student respondents who have jobs are students who work in some sort of service. However, the service industry and job industry can be hard, but many enjoy it. 

“I like working in the service industry,” Maia Yokoi (11), Dorothy Lane Market employee, said. “You meet so many new people and make new friends at work.”

While some enjoy working in the service industry, others do not enjoy working in it. 

“I did not like working in the service industry,” Anna Munk (11), employee at Tastefully Roasted, said. “Some people were rude, especially when we asked customers to wear a mask.” 

Some enjoy and  do not enjoy working in the service industry. Many think it depends on the amount of hours you work.

“After working too many hours I became annoyed with it and some people started to annoy me,” Yokoi said.

The amount of hours that students spend also seems to vary on their enjoyment of their work. Of the students who responded, 37.1% of students said they work 5-10 hours per week and another 25.7% said that they work Zero to Five hours per week. 11.4% work 20-30 hours per week and 5.7% work 30+ hours per week. 

A majority of students work from 0-10 hours per week. Many find that work gets in the way of their schoolwork. 

“It’s a tricky balance between school and work,” Yokoi said. “I’ll often find myself prioritizing work over school and I realize I shouldn’t be doing that.”

While some find the work school balance hard, others find it to be easy and enjoyable. 

“I only do ticketing at most once a week and it’s not much effort so I really don’t think it affects my schoolwork too much” Avery Pohl (12) said. 

A majority of Oakwood student respondents do not work, which seems to mirror national statistics. While some enjoy their school-work life balance, many do not and think it is difficult to balance and choose not to work at this time.