多數青少年工作者將收入用于短期消費

High school seniors spend most of their earnings on clothes， music， movies， eating out and other personal expenses. Spending on cars and car expenses comes in second， especially for males. And way down the list come saving for college or other long-range goals and helping with family living expenses.

The findings come from a new study of 49，000 high school seniors from the classes of 1981 through 2011， based on the Monitoring the Future study conducted annually by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research. Authors include Jerald Bachman， Jeremy Staff， Patrick O'Malley and Peter Freedman-Doan.

In recent years， the proportion of high school seniors in paid employment has declined appreciably， from 75 percent in 2001 to 59 percent in 2010. But there has been little change over the years in what student workers actually do with their money. Most students devote about half or more of their earnings to discretionary spending on relatively short-term wants and needs， Bachman says.

Levels of spending on cars have changed notably， however. Up through about 2005， roughly 30 percent of males spent about half or more of their earnings on cars， but that dropped to about 23 percent for males in the classes of 2009-11. Among females， the proportions spending about half or more of earnings on cars was consistently lower， but rates rose gradually from 1981-85 (16 percent) through 1995-2000 (24 percent) and then dropped sharply by 2009-2011 (17 percent).

Although the current research did not explore why this change in car spending has happened， other reports have shown overall declines in driving in recent years and that young people， in particular， are driving less.

Another interesting change in teen spending was the small but steady decline in proportions of female 12th-graders who devoted about half or more of their earnings to discretionary spending， dropping from about 62 percent in 1981-1985 to about 55 percent in 2006-2011. Among males， the proportions were consistently lower， but they， too， dropped slightly from a high of about 55 percent in 1986-2000 to about 51 percent in 2009-2011.

Proportions of 12th-graders who contributed at least half of their earnings to helping out the family were consistently low， rising slightly over the three decades studied from 9 percent to 12 percent among males and 10 percent to 14 percent among females.

Savings for further education ranked a bit higher than contributions to family， but showed little in the way of gender differences or consistent change across time. An average of about 17 percent devoted about half or more of their earnings to future education.

An important question examined in the report is whether saving for college somehow \"protects\" students from the possible negative consequences of working long hours on the job. The researchers found that college savers are somewhat less likely to work long hours in a paid job， presumably because they want more time for school work so as to qualify for college entrance.

Bachman and colleagues say that for any given level of work intensity， college savers are less likely to use cigarettes， alcohol and illegal drugs， and more likely to have good grades. Nevertheless， among both those who saved about half or more for college and those who did not， working long hours was associated with negative outcomes.

http://www.ns.umich.edu/new/releases/21959-most-teen-workers-spend-not-save

密歇根大學社會研究院的一項調查顯示，1981-2011年間，高中生將他們大部分的打工收入用于衣服、音樂、外出就餐和其他個人消費；一部分男生會將錢用于買車或汽車維護；而只有一小部分人會選擇為大學積攢學費等長期目標或是補貼家用。近年來，打工的高中生數量明顯減少，從2001年的75%減至2010年的59%。但是打工收入的花費用途總體來看并無顯著變化，絕大部分學生仍將收入用于短期消費。然而，汽車開銷卻有較明顯的變化：2005年，約近30%的男生將一半或以上收入用于汽車，而這一數字在2009-2011年間跌至23%；女生在汽車方面的花銷一直較低，但這一比例從1981-1985年間的16%上升到1995-2000年間的24%，卻于2009-2011年間跌回17%。另外一個有趣的變化是，無論是男生還是女生，無計劃的開銷都在逐步減少。為長期計劃的人數較以前有所增加，約有17%的人將一半或以上的收入儲蓄用于未來教育投資。