The New Child Labour? The Part-Time Student Workforce in Australia

Abstract

This paper reports on the findings about part-time school students’ working from a research project, in two Australian States, into school students’ experiences in workplaces. The findings, from a survey and case studies, indicate that over half of Australian school-children in Years 10 and above are engaged in formal paid work. The majority of students who wish to work do not appear to experience much difficulty finding jobs, although those from certain minority groups are less likely to work than the average. Nearly two-thirds of student-workers are employed in the retail and fast-food industries. The paper argues that more attention needs to be paid to student part-time working, as it is now the normal form of entry to the labour market.