Students enrolled in school-sponsored work programs: the effect of multiple jobs on workplace safety and school-based behaviors.

BACKGROUND

Throughout the United States, over 70% of public schools with 12th grade offer school-sponsored work (SSW) programs for credit; 60% offer job-shadowing programs for students. Wisconsin offers a variety of work-based learning programs for students, including, but not limited to, job shadowing, internships, co-op education, and youth apprenticeship programs. No research has compared workplace injury and school-based behaviors in students enrolled in SSW programs who work only 1 job compared with those who work multiple jobs.

METHODS

A total of 6810 students in the 5 public health regions in Wisconsin responded to an anonymous questionnaire that was administered in 2003. The questionnaire asked about employment, injury, characteristics of injury, and school-based behaviors and performance.

RESULTS

A total of 3411 high school students aged 14 to 18 reported they were employed during the school year. Among the working students, 13.5% were enrolled in a SSW program. Of the SSW students, 44% worked multiple jobs. SSW students who worked multiple jobs were more likely to do hazardous job tasks, to work after 11 PM, to work over 40 hours per week, to have a near-miss incident, to have a coworker injured, and to be injured at work.

CONCLUSIONS

SSW students who are working multiple jobs are violating labor laws that put their safety and their school performance at risk. The responsibilities of employers and schools have to be addressed to ensure that SSW students are abiding by labor laws when working multiple jobs.