Caution: Your Child’s First Job Could Be Hazardous to Her Health

The Atlantic has published an article about workplace safety among teens, using research conducted by Sociologist Michael Schulman.

An estimated 80 percent of teens are employed at some point during their high school years–but many of them are ill-equipped to deal with on-the-job hazards. Around 146,000 adolescents are injured in the workplace every year, according to federal data, with about 70 dying as a result. Even worse, a study in the current issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health argues that parents are unprepared to help their children stay safe.

“There’s just a huge information gap in terms of parents knowing what’s going on in the workplace right now,” says co-author Michael Schulman, a North Carolina State University occupational-injury expert. “Parents are very active in helping kids find a job, but there’s a big drop off in involvement after.”

Read the full Atlantic article.