Teenagers Have Stopped Getting Summer Jobs By Derek Thompson

In the essay, “Teenagers Have Stopped Getting Summer Jobs–Why?” by Derek Thompson, the author utilizes argumentative techniques–such as facts and statistics–as well as contrast, to illustrate the cause of the decline in summer employment, and how teens are not lazy, yet rather focusing on education.

Furthermore, Thompson shows the cause of the decline of summer employment–and how teens are not lazy, yet focusing more on academics–through contrast. Initially, he illustrates how modern adolescents are focusing on education rather than labor. A study conducted by Thompson exhibits that, “The percent of recent high-school graduates enrolled in college–both two-year and four year–has grown by 25 percentage points. That is almost exactly the decline in the teenage labor-force participation rate” (Thompson 366). There is a clear contrast in the teenage labor-force participation rate–and the high-school

This links back to Thompson’s claim–how summer employment is decreasing, and how teens are not lazy, yet focusing on education–as it is made evident that teens are valuing the importance of schooling and literacy; they are choosing to enroll in more college classes rather than physical labor. Continuing onward, Thompson defends his claim through multiple ways. For instance, a study conducted by Thompson–known as Teen-Labor Participation Rates vs. Share of New High School Graduates in College Classes–illustrates how between the 1960s to the late 1980s–specifically 1985–both college enrollment rates and teen-labor participation rates stayed between forty-five and fifty-five percent, fluctuating by an approximate ten percent increase and decrease around every five years.