New research reveals a significant decline in teens’ participation in part-time jobs and extracurricular activities, raising concerns over their preparedness for adult responsibilities and future opportunities.
As children head back to school this autumn, new research suggests many teenagers are passing through adolescence with fewer of the everyday experiences that once helped them learn how to function as adults: holding a part-time job, joining a club or team, and sharing regular meals at home.
The clearest sign is paid work. Daniel Cox of the American Enterprise Institute’s Survey Centre on American Life, writing in a report published in mid-August, said teen employment has been eroding for nearly half a century. His analysis, based on the American Teenagers Survey carried out in January and February among 13- to 17-year-olds, found that just 15% of teens had a part-time job, rising to only 28% among 16- and 17-year-olds. Bureau of Labour Statistics data show teen labour force participation peaked at close to 58% in the late 1970s and has trended down since then.
The decline matters because work has long served as a low-risk place to practise punctuality, responsibility and dealing with adults outside the family. Pew Research Centre reported in August that summer employment among U.S. teens briefly rebounded in 2021 and 2022 but then slipped again, reaching 30.7% in July 2026. The Centre for American Progress has pointed to the same long slide, noting that teen employment fell from an average of 45% in 2000 to about 25% after the Great Recession and has remained weak since.
Cox’s report also suggests that the gap is not simply about jobs. Teen participation in extracurricular life narrows with age and varies sharply by family background. Among boys, travel sports participation falls from 52% in early adolescence to 35% by ages 16 and 17. Among girls, choir and band participation drops from 30% to 17%. Only 7% of teens are involved in student government or debate. Teens with college-educated parents are about twice as likely as their peers to take part in extracurriculars, and they are three times as likely to join student government or debate.
That divide extends to what comes next. The AEI survey found that 48% of teens now plan to attend a four-year college, while 17% expect to enter a two-year or vocational programme, 10% plan to go straight into full-time work and nearly one in five are unsure. A separate Gallup and Walton Family Foundation poll released in late August found that no more than 20% of students felt “very prepared” for any post-school route, including college, trade school, apprenticeships or work. Even among students planning to attend college, just 19% felt very prepared, and most career conversations with adults were still focused on higher education.
Taken together, the findings point to a narrow and increasingly unequal set of opportunities for teenagers to build confidence before adulthood. The teenagers in these surveys do not appear disengaged or unhappy; most said they were satisfied with their lives, their friendships and their relationships with parents. What seems to be missing is practice: the ordinary experience of turning up, taking direction, working with others and learning that there are several ways to build a future.
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