Seeing the Unseen: High-School Students Who Work Part-Time

With Japan's public spending on education being the lowest and its child poverty rate among the highest among the OECD countries, a number of high-school students face economic hardships. It is a well-known phenomenon that a substantial proportion of high-school students work part-time after school although their working conditions and family background have seldom been investigated in the previous research. However, the issue is important because part-time work may have detrimental effects on students' educational development by depriving them of time to study. There is also growing concern about student workers' rights because a recent survey from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare reveals that more than 30% of high-school students who work part-time have experienced illegal employment practices (such as non-payment and forced overtime, harassment, etc.).

Using a unique survey of 2560 high-school students and their parents in Tokyo Metropolitan Area conducted in 2016, this study explores factors affecting students' decision to work by paying special attention to gender differences and socio-economic status of the family. Preliminary results are as follows: 1) female students are approximately 1.5 times more likely to work, and work longer hours than their male counterparts, 2) the poorer the student's household is, the higher his/her probability to work, 3) among students from poor families, male students are more likely to work to supplement their family income although their probability to work is lower than their female counterparts. Further investigation on gender differences will follow.