Chapter 2

Foreign Studies

According to data from the Longitudinal Study of Young

People in England in 2006, almost 27% of 16-yeard-old students
pursuing a full-time education reported having a part-time job
during the school term.

A part-time job may improve or help develop particular

personal characteristics, including responsibility, work
organization and time management (Steinberg et al., 1981;
Steinberg and Greenberger, 1982), which could directly improve a
young person’s future position in the labour market. However,
most on-the-job training mainly improves non cognitive skills,
which are not measured by standard school tests and exams. On
the other hand, time spent working reduces the time available
for educational activity (Kalenkoski and Pabilonia, 2009) and
therefore could lead to lower educational achievements, possibly
resulting in school withdrawals (Rokicka, 2014 of the Institute
for Social & Economic Research).

Having a paying job at some time during high school has

become a near-universal adolescent experience. Many youth start
to work informally even earlier, at about the age of twelve,
most often in their own neighbourhoods, babysitting, shovelling
snow, cutting grass, or doing various odd jobs. At first, paid
work is episodic and generally quite limited. By the age of 16,
adolescent workers are more likely to have formal jobs, working
in the retail and service sectors of the economy, especially in
fast food restaurants, grocery stores, or other retail stores.
Employment becomes more regular and more time-consuming during
the latter years of high school, with many teens working 20 or
more hours per week. They believe adolescence should be a time
of exploration—a time to figure out who one is and what path one
should follow. According to this point of view, too much work
may have severe opportunity costs with respect to healthy
identity formation (Mortimer, 2010 of the Benefits and Risks of
Adolescent Employment.

The proportion of college students doing part-time jobs has

been increasing over time in Great Britain (Bradley 2006;
Broadbridge and Swanson 2006) and it has become the norm for
full-time students to combine study and work during the term-
time (McInnis and Hartley 2002). Some scholars attributed this
dramatic increase in the number of students taking term-time
part-time jobs to the fundamental change in the responsibility
for funding college education shifting from the states to
families. The replacement of an elite education system in
western societies leads to a dramatic increase in the number of
students enrolling in tertiary education (Wang, Kong, Shan &
Vong, 2010).

Local Studies

Working full-time while also studying full-time clearly

requires a lot of effort. Putting so much of one’s mental and
physical energy into this uneasy arrangement usually leaves a
feeling of fatigue, stress, or both. Students who work while
studying are those who usually belong to families with low
average income, where survival is a must. Tuttle (2005)
describes them as lower-income students, and to some extent,
middle-income students, who have some unmet financial burdens
and need to work while studying.
 College is all about learning to be a part of the practical
world and the challenges that it brings with it. Working does
not only give a person a firsthand experience in the field, but
it also encourages creativity and productivity in college, since
working helps in developing a better understanding of what is
being taught (Haqifa, 2013). However, some researchers have
reported that the more time a student devotes to employment, the
less he or she has for either academic or social activities
(Fjortoft, 1995 in Tuttle, 2005). For some students, especially
those in traditionally underserved populations, taking a job is
not a matter of choice, but necessity. They need to work to save
for college or even to supplement family (Frigillano, Ciasico, &
Nulada, 2015 of Lived Experiences of On-Campus Working
Students.)

Student Employment is a very common practice in the

Philippines. With a significant portion of the student
population engaging in part-time jobs, it is not a surprise to
find working students in a classroom, especially in colleges and
universities. They get employment from a variety of industries,
mainly from food service, to sales and entertainment, aside from
the usual jobs such as student assistants.

Due to financial obstacles, a lot of college students try

to juggle school and work, causing a variety of problems for
them. Ranging from difficulties in time management, decline in
school performance, health problems, and to personal and social
problems, part-time working students face a lot of challenges
and difficulties trying to balance both (Bantilan,2014 of the
Academic Performance of Selected Working Students at the Lyceum
of the Philippines in Manila.)
 Many people are familiar with the concept of “work-life
balance”- the ongoing struggle to keep a healthy split between
times spent on your professional time. While it is technically
possible to work full-time while studying full-time, it can be a
bit like fighting a two-front war- both areas important and
require constant attention, and ignoring either is something you
do at your own peril- and meanwhile, you can ever forget your
obligations on the “home front” either. Working students are
those individuals who find ways to make things possible for them
and to others.

Student’s jobs have become a sort of trend among students

around the world, who want to work while studying. In short, the
term that suits this trend is “Earn and Learn” policy. Other
reasons why student jobs are popular among students is they help
to cope up with the constant increase in tuition fees, and a way
to afford further educations. One of the negative effects
typically arise because hours spent at work take time away from
studying which may lead to lower grades and less attractive post
college opportunities (Arceo, Dunca, & Ten, 2013 of the Factors
Affecting the Academic Performance of the Working Students in
PUP Santa Rosa.)