The Most Dangerous Jobs for Teens

(MoneyWatch)  I was infuriated when my elder son, at age 18, quit his first summer job. Max's assignment was to power-wash houses for a painting company. Apparently, when he climbed up a ladder to the second and third stories, he shook like a leaf and dropped the hose. I wanted him to go back and overcome his fear of heights (or work, whichever was worse), but he clung to the doorpost and wouldn't let go until I gave up.

It turns out that Max was right to throw in the towel. According to a new report from the National Consumers League, those summer jobs you insist your teens take can be hazardous. Don't think so? Well, here are the stats: In 2007, a worker under age 18 died every ten days. In 2006, some 52,600 work-related injuries and illnesses among youth 15 to 17 years of age required treatment in hospital emergency departments--that's a hospital visit every 10 minutes for a teen worker. There's more, but that should be enough to make you anxious.

The NCL identifies the five worst jobs, and they're not too surprising: agriculture (harvesting crops); construction and height work (yeah, Max); driving forklifts, tractors and ATVs; working on traveling youth sales crews; and landscaping. The first three are self-explanatory. But kids selling magazines and what not on traveling crews have been victims of serious car accidents, rapes and other assaults. I thought landscaping was a nice, wholesome outdoor job, and it can be, but remember that yard work often requires power tools, sharp instruments and machines which result in gory and horrible accidents that are the stuff of nightmares.

Teens can face other serious dangers when they enter the adult workplace, however, even if they're folding T-shirts at the Gap or teaching "I'm a Little Teapot" to 6-year-old campers. PBS and the Schuster Institute of Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University have reported that some 200,000 teenagers are the targets of sexual assault at their jobs.


And, of course, there's another, less drastic danger: not getting paid. I remember very well when my cousin April worked with her girlfriend at a drive-in restaurant for a week and never got a dime. They finally received their checks after April's mom filed a complaint with the state department of labor -- which you should do if that happens to your kid.

Which brings me to the point: parents can't micro-manage, but they should make sure that their kids aren't working more hours than they should and that they're working in appropriate jobs. For all that information, you or your kid can visit the U.S. Department of Labor's website for teen workers. And, you can go a little further by asking your child when he comes home from his first day whether his training included finding the fire exit, using equipment and other safety measures.

And if your kid reports shaking like a leaf, let him quit.