Abstract
Part-time jobs are done or experienced by about 90 percent of
the students at Chuo University. The jobs are done as we
found out mainly to earn money, but we were not obvious if it was
the only reason. Hence, the methods used mainly to find out the
solution were surveys, interviews, and sources from the
magazines. We found out that contradiction existed doing
part-time jobs.
Introduction
Having a part-time job has become a common factor for the
younger generation in the society. The lifestyle has become
expensive, and at the same time the needs and their desires of
the younger generation have changed. As a result, their need to
earn money is an important factor in their lives and part-time
jobs was just the solution. Students work at a variety of
part-time jobs, such as a sales clerk at a convenient store, a
worker as transacting information into the computer or even
cleaning the windows. Additionally, students select their jobs
for various reasons. Decades ago, most of the part-time jobs were
monotonous. However, there are all sorts of part time-jobs right
now. As a consequence, some of the contemporary part- time jobs
enlist people who have special skills and knowledge. In addition,
employers have difficulty in choosing whom to employ, for the
jobs require absolute punctuality.
We focused on what kinds of jobs are popular and why these
jobs win popularity among the youngsters. Mainly people work for
the amount of money being paid per hour. However, despite that
money is the number one reason that people work, many people do
part time-job as an experience for the future in the society
where one must work with elders, which many students at Chuo
might have in mind. Our goal is to demonstrate that many students
feel benefits other than money from their part-time jobs.
Method
Sample
We conducted 114 surveys and 12 interviews with both male and
female students at Chuo University situated in
Hachiouji. The sample students who participated in the survey and
interview consisted of an age group from 18 to 26. The survey was
conducted on November 15th to December3rd 1999.
Survey & Interview
Two methods were taken into our research. The first is a survey;
the second an interview. Both were for the purpose of examining
what the participants gained from their individual jobs. 10
questions were asked anonymously on an A4 sheet of white paper
and via electronic mail. The same information was made available
on a web site. Unregistered applications were counted as a void
entry. The survey consisted of 2 sections.
The first section was requiring participants to provide an answer to the kind
of job they do. Earnings and the tpe of job were
examined. We transacted this information into five
categories (see chart below):
|
Category
|
Description
|
Service
Deskwork
Education
Physical
Other |
Fast food catering, convenient store sales clerk
Translation, Computer work
Cram school teacher, tutor
Bodyguard, window cleaner
None of the above
|
The second section was based on questions that required the
participants to provide short answers as to why they chose their
jobs. Two separate questions were taken to examine each--the
reason for choosing the job, and the benefits gained from the
job. This information was expected to be the core element of our
research.
We analyzed in the data, and to further develop our findings,
we interviewed some students at Chuo University who are currently
employed at part-time jobs. As well, we used various print and
WWW-based sources that related to our topic.
Results
100 students answered our survey out of 114 students. Age group
scattered from 18 to 26. The average age of valid answers were
19.3 years old as shown on graph 1. Service was the most popular
job chosen by students. 55% of male participants and also 62% of
female participants chose Service jobs as their part-time
occupation. Educational jobs seemed to be well paid having an
average of 1423 yen but the result of the survey told that
service was the most popular although it only paid an average of
830 yen an hour. The average of all the jobs that were answered
in the survey was 980yen. In addition, a high number of
participants, 71% out of all participants, reported that they
chose their part-time jobs for the money earned as we expected.
Social experience was the top reason for the benefit students
receive from doing part-time jobs. Cooperation follows next,
falling 14points. What was surprising to us was that the fact,
third of the participants in the survey were not enjoying their
jobs. But these were mainly answered by the well-paid jobs. Low
attitudes were paid to their jobs answered by the participants
with our interview.
Click this to
view all our results in graph and chart form (this will open a
new page in a separate window).
Discussion
College students desire part-time jobs not just for the reason
of money, but for the future society. Students recognize that it
is a necessity of life to work with their elders. As a result, we
found that the service industry was the most popular of all other
choices. We can deduce from this and the interviews that in the
service industry, that one can get the basic needs for the future
society. For instance, students learn how to talk to elders, to
have real responsibility, to cooperate with others, and to have
new social experiences. Also many students chose service as a
part-time job for the amount of time one can work in a day.
Whereas other jobs, for instance tutoring, one cannot work as
much as service industry per day or even a week. Due to the
limited time that one is able to work per day or a week for
education, the total amount one makes a Part-time Jobs 12 month,
would apparently become lower compared to the service industry.
As a consequence, many students chose part-time job so that they
can make lots of money.
In addition, we detected that once one keeps a job for more
than half a year, about 80% of the students obtain the same job
for the rest of their school years. This might be from the cause
of the responsibility one gets after being a worker for a long
time. Other possibilities are that students worked so long they
become attached to one's workplace. Moreover, students just
do not feel like looking for another job because they must learn
the new system that goes with the new job.
Furthermore, many students do not have in mind their future
goal when they pick their part-time jobs. Only about eight
percent of the students chose their part time job for direct
usage of the future. For example, one student chose teaching at a
cram school to gain the ability and the know-how to teach.
However, many students acquire indirect know-how; for instance,
the experience in the society for the future from the jobs they
engage in.
Another fact was that females were more concerned about making
money. However, females are more satisfied with their jobs. From
this fact, we surmised that females were being treated more
generously at their workplaces.
Besides females being more satisfied than males, the service
industry, the educational field, and the desk works, the realms
had about 80% positive answers. On the other hand, the physical
and the other spheres had about half of the people not satisfied
with their jobs. We can predict from this that one's labor
time and the money their making in this realm is hard work with
that does not fit the profit.
Another interesting fact was that males seem to care about
their appearances or their masculinity. The third benefit from
their job was body-building, this surpassed the ability in
learning how to talk to elders and to have new social
experiences. More importantly, for males, body-building is as
important as having real responsibilities.
However, all of the answers that we took did not seem
positive. Even though one can earn a lot of money, one can waste
a lot of money at the same time. One can become so obsessed doing
part-time job that one's grades at school might be affected
negatively. There are both positive and negative points doing
part-time jobs. Although when we thought about the positive
points, being prepared for the world of business, making money,
and spending a well regulated week. Therefore, one's time
spent in the part-time job should be graded positively.
by Kazuhiro Miyamura, Takeaki Sugita,
Yosuke Tanaka and Takahashi Handa
References
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- Gakuseimondaikennkyujyo. (1959).
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(Daigakuseitoshiseikastsu. Miyamura, Trans.). Tokyo:
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- Sanngyouroudouchousasho (1985, August).
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