Where Did All the Saturday Jobs Go? The Disappearance of Teen Work and What It Means

11th January 2026

For decades, the "Saturday job" was more than a way for teenagers to earn pocket money — it was an important bridge into the world of work, teaching responsibility, teamwork and basic workplace skills.

But those jobs — shelf-stacking, cafe shifts, newspaper rounds and shop errands — are vanishing.

Understanding why requires looking at deep changes in the economy, labour markets and young people's lives, trends documented by research from the UK think-tank the Resolution Foundation.

A Dramatic Drop in Teen Employment

The decline in Saturday jobs is well measured in long-run data. Between the late 1990s and the late 2010s, the share of 16- and 17-year-olds with part-time employment plummeted from nearly half (around 48 per cent) to roughly a quarter (about 25 per cent). That means the proportion of teens with a conventional “Saturday job” almost halved over two decades — a stark shift in youth labour market engagement.

This change isn’t just a small shift in preferences; it has real consequences. For example, the number of working-age adults who have never had a paid job has risen sharply — underscoring how falling youth employment has ripple effects across life courses.

Why Saturday Jobs Have Disappeared

There is no single cause for this shift, but several interacting forces help explain it:

1. A Crowded Labour Market and Competition from Adults
Teenagers once competed with each other for weekend jobs. Today, many of these roles are filled by older jobseekers, including graduates and adults seeking part-time work in a tough labour market. This reduces the number of entry-level roles available to young people just starting out.

2. Employer Reluctance and Regulation
Employers increasingly report that hiring under-18s involves extra paperwork, health and safety protocols, and supervision responsibilities. For smaller businesses with tight budgets and staffing needs, that can make teenage hires less attractive.

3. Shifts in Education and Priorities
Young people today face greater academic pressures and longer compulsory study commitments, meaning fewer hours available for paid work. Many families and schools also prioritise study and extracurricular achievement over part-time jobs. These broader social expectations help explain why part-time work in education has declined.

4. Part-Time Work Patterns and Labour Market Change
Resolution Foundation researchers have documented that part-time work in the UK is increasingly concentrated among low-paid workers and often reflects constraints rather than choice. Their Constrained choices report finds that many who work part-time — including young people — do so because they cannot find full-time work, aren’t offered more hours, or need flexibility due to other commitments.

Youth Employment in a Broader Context

The disappearance of Saturday jobs doesn’t happen in isolation. It is part of a larger story about young people’s connection to the labour market:

Many young people are increasingly not in education, employment or training (NEET) — nearly one million aged 16-24 at recent estimates. This rise in NEET figures reflects broader weaknesses in labour market entry points for young people.

Resolution Foundation research also shows that part-time work for young adults is often involuntary, meaning many work fewer hours than they would like because they cannot find full-time employment.

These patterns feed into a cycle where young people gain less work experience early in life, making it harder to build skills and resilience — attributes that traditional Saturday jobs once helped develop.

What This Means for Skills and Mobility

The decline in Saturday jobs matters because early work experience has historically served as a launchpad for future opportunities. Research across the UK labour market suggests that young people who combine study and work are less likely to become NEET later and more likely to develop employability skills valued by employers. While the Resolution Foundation’s more recent reports focus broadly on part-time and youth employment trends, the implication is clear: fewer entry-level opportunities reduce real-world exposure to work and make transitions into adulthood more challenging.

How Policy Could Respond

To reconnect young people with the labour market, analysts suggest several policy options:

Improving job quality and progression opportunities, so part-time roles offer real pathways rather than dead-ends.

Targeted employment support and careers guidance for young people, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds or with barriers to work.

Incentives for employers to create and sustain entry-level positions that fit around students’ schedules.

These ideas reflect a broader debate about how to ensure that all young people — not just those who follow academic or wealthy pathways — can build meaningful work experience and progress into secure careers.

The traditional Saturday job has not disappeared due to a single cause, nor is it just nostalgia. Instead, its decline highlights deeper structural shifts in labour markets, education, employer behaviour and policy priorities. Research from the Resolution Foundation shows that this trend is part of broader patterns of youth employment and part-time work — with consequences for skills, social mobility and economic inclusion.

If society values the formative experience that Saturday jobs once provided, policymakers, schools and employers alike will need to ensure that new pathways exist to equip young people for the world of work today.