We"old timers" love to recall the good old days. So here is a topic of interest: What was the first job you ever had and what were you paid?
Mine was cutting a huge lawn with an electric mower. It took me 6 hours and I was paid $5 total. That was in 1954.

Cutting grass? That doesn't even count!

My first job was as a bag boy at Weingartens #61 in Houston...store number the same as my draftboard. I got paid the princely sum of $1.35 an hour. And, I thought it was a small fortune.

Walking beans. Walking rows of Soybeans and pulling up weeds. Paid $2.50 an hour. But was very seasonal. So the first job I had I worked year round was in a grocery store. Starting pay, $1.96 an hour. In the year 1976.

1953 ... I was 11 years old and mowed 1/4 acre lawns using a "Push" type lawn mower for 25 cent... that is 25 cent for the entire job... not per hour..

The only person who had a "Power" lawn mower was the doctor who lived next door..

it was a "Push" mower with a Briggs and Stratton motor mounted on top and a pulley belt connected to the mower wheel.

I was not allowed to use it because it was "Too Dangerous" I was told..

Then in 1956 when I turned 14, the legal age to "officially" work...
I rode my bike downtown to the tax office and paid 50 cent for my "Worker's Permit" and that same day, I got a job in the neighborhood grocery store bagging groceries for 35 cent per hour..

The minimum wage for adult workers in 1956 was about 50 or 60 cent per hour.. (don't remember the exact amount)..
so I felt pretty good as a 14 year old kid making 35 cent...

I worked every day after school from 1500 to 1800 hrs... and every Saturday from 0700 until 1700 hrs.. I took home $7.50 per week after taxes.

In the summertime, I was allowed to work 3 days a week from noontime until closing at 1800 hrs and of course all day Saturday.

The child labor laws only allowed a maximum of 30 hours a week for kids under 16 years old.

That little bit of money would be laughed at by the kids of today.. but back then it was enough to buy shoes, clothes, junk food and go to the movie on Sunday afternoon.

* A bottle of soda pop was a nickle.
* Candy bars were a nickle.
* The movie only cost nine cent.. yes I said 9 cent..
* Tennis shoes cost $1.99 a pair.
* Wrangler jeans cost $2.50 a pair
* bicycle tubes cost 50 cent
* bicycle tires cost $1.25


John

I drove a tractor plowing wheat land. Was paid $6.50 per 13 hour day. During the winter I fed cattle (insulage) after school. Loaded a bob tail truck every afternoon by hand & threw it off into troughs on the wheat pasture. Took about 2 hours. Was paid $1.00 per day. Same farmer.

First job I had was during the Summer break,1964. I worked in a factory stamping out sheet metal parts for hot water heaters. It paid $1.35 hr. in Nashville, TN. 1965, joined the USAF.
Dr. Kool

The first job I had was working as a car hop when I was 14 years old, made about $10.00 per night, counting tips.
Wicked Wanda

This message has been edited. Last edited by: dr.koolwickedwanda,

My first real job was as what used to be called a "printer's devil" cleaning up around the pressroom at a small town newspaper, then delivering the papers on a route after they came off the press. From there they taught me to set type by hand for job work (a skill that doesn't exist any more). Started when I was 12 and I guess that ink got into my blood, because I've been involved in the publishing business one way or another for much of my adult life.

The first job I had that taxes were held was in 1959. At 14 I worked in a Bowling Center. I was a pin setter. We had semi-automatic setters. We were paid 13 cents a line (game). A good week was when you set 300 games and made $39. gross.

1965....I babysat for a family with 6 children, and the oldest was 6. I would arrive at 5 pm and cook dinner. Then I bathed them all and put them to bed. I got paid .50 cents an hour. Another family had 2 kids and I got paid $1 an hour. Gotta love the rich folks That summer I babysat 2 children, the oldest was 18 months, and I was with them from 8 am until 5 pm Monday until Friday.....75 cents an hour. I was 14.

So after cutting grass in summers I realized a seasonal income was not as good as "steady work"
So when I turned 15 I got my working permit with the approval of the Dean of Boys and off I went to the A&P in Harvey, Illinois where I raked in 75 cents an hour. In a certain amount of time I had to join the union and my wages shot up to 95 cents an hour. On a good Saturday I might earn an extra $3.00 in tips. The store was closed Sundays. In my senior year of high school I got another "raise" to a full buck an hour. I remember that summer I was saving for college and by working 40 hours I was taking home about $37 a week. I thought I was in high cotton. I thought I was in high cotton. That A&P job did O.K. by me because I continued to get pay raises and in my last two years I earned the Chicago union rate in non-union rural DeKalb.IL -- a whopping $2.22 per hour and the store manager swore me to secrecy lest he have revolt on his hands. That part-time job went a long way: tuition, room and board, car insurance, gas and oil, dates and clothing. I feel sorry for today's kids who have to take out loans to get through college and come out with huge debt. Then I see their starting salaries and signing bonuses and don't feel sorry for them any longer.

My first job was picking radishes for $0.15 per bushel.

My first job (unpaid of course) was helping my Dad on the farm. That was the summer, 1953, I learned to drive the tractor. My first paying job was running a lunch counter at the local tavern/dance hall for $2.00 a night, about 6 hours. Dad was the bartender and NO ONE ever had a thought of messing with me.

Safe travels,

Judy

My first job besides babysitting was cleaning motel rooms for $1 an hour for my parents.

The first one that shows up on SS statement was in New Haven, CT for So NE Bell working as a file clerk in the yellow pages dept. Can't believe I made $75 a week in 1970. A whopping $1.875 an hr. I only lasted 3 weeks because I was a West Coast girl and didn't like living with the inlaws with DH heading off to VietNam.

As an odd-job I was hand sanding and varnishing all the Teak on a guy's boat. He had a motorcycle shop and one day his mechanic left for Canada (summer 1967-he was a Hippie Peacenik and the Draft Board wouldn't let him serve as a Conscientious Objector). So George said as I was about done with the boat did I want to try my hand at motorcycles. There was an Engine disassembled on the workbench when I walked in. Had never seen anything like it but there was a Suzuki shop manual with lots of pretty pictures so I was in business. My wage was $1.50/Hr and gasoline was 30 Cents/Gal. A Beer was a Quarter at the Bar across the street and the Barkeep had no problem serving a 17Yr old. Different times.

Lew

At about age 10, started Shining shoes on the boardwalk, Wildwood NJ. Sold newspapers on the beach, "Philiadelphia Evening Bulletin...Bulletin here.. four..star..final.."

Caddy, shoveling snow, then I turned 16... stock boy at hardware store...