| Abstract: | In recent years, part-time work has emerged as an important area of study in understanding young people's lives. The existing literature on young people's work focuses predominantly on the effects of youth labor, particularly on academic progress, future employment, emotional development, and deviant behavior. While youth employment has been studied extensively from the perspectives of parents, educators, and policy-makers, the central actors – young people themselves – have been relatively neglected and young people's motives behind work remain virtually unexplored. A bourgeoning literature advocates a subject-centric approach and proposes an understanding of youth labor from the perspective of young people. In this paper, I aim to (i) survey the existing literature on youth employment in the USA and Europe, (ii) examine the differences that come from adopting a subject-centered approach, and (iii) discuss the implications of this shift for the future of youth labor literature. |
