My first year of SS contributions

[Beldar]

Hmm...

1974, made $795 working as a "Pool Boy" at a country club in HS. Made $792 the following summer doing the same thing.

Later in college I worked at the Indiana Box Company stuffing Kotex packages ($849 the first year). Also received a small stipend (not taxable IIRC) during ROTC.

Thank G*D we don't have to use our real names here!

_B

[aaronc879]

My first job was in 1996 at age 16. I made $3303($5.00/hr) working as a stocker in a grocery store.

[retire2020]

First job was in Feb 1984 working at news stand in NYC. Owner paid $3/hour and I earned $4865 for that year..
First 100K in 1997 and 200K in 1999(good old Y2K days)

[Car-Guy]

The first job I had that took out taxes was when I was about 16. I made $100 a week and was taking home about $84 of that.

[kgtest]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DFW_M5 You made me look My record shows $163 in 1965 when I started working in a movie theater. However, I guess my paper route earnings, years before that, never got reported. I enjoyed the theater job more than any subsequent job.

My paper route earnings were never reported either. I was surprised by that, Surely I was paying SS on my earnings but I can't recall and obviously the IRS says I wasn't.


Movie theater in 1996. They put me in the popcorn refill booth which kind of offended me because I only received foot traffic for quick refills. They paid me min wage $5.15/hr which was more than the minimum wage. I looked for a new job after my first few weeks and I was hired by target to push carts and was working two jobs for a week until I decided the girls were much cuter at target and they paid me $6.75/hr.

[Walt34]

In 1967 I started at the local Esso gas station at $1.25/hour and in that year earned $1,177 working full time during the summer and part time two or three days a week after school. For some reason I still have the "Esso" shoulder patch from my jacket. It doesn't take up much space so I leave it in the drawer. My heirs can wonder what that's all about....

[Andre1969]

I worked three jobs in 1986. First, I did house and yard work for an old lady that my grandmother knew. I'd been doing it on weekends since 1983, when I was 13. She paid me $3.50 per hour to start, and eventually I was making $4. That wasn't reported to SS, though. Unfortunately, she succumbed to cancer in the spring of 1986.

That summer, I worked at a local nursery school, doing yard work, painting the exterior of the building, etc. He paid me minimum wage, which wad $3.35/hr. Later on in the summer I got a job at a local veterinary clinic, helping out with the animals, cleaning up, etc. That paid a bit better: $3.75/hr. I continued on at the vet once school started, working weekday evenings and about 4 hours on Saturday.

Looking back, I think I worked about 40 hours per week that summer at the nursery school, and maybe 18-20 at the veterinary clinic. SS wages for that first year was $1,637.

[Idnar7]

Started working at 15 at a fast food restaurant in 1965. $1.65/hr for the summer. Benefits were all the food you could eat and some of the best girlfriends I ever had.
Yeah summer of 65!!

[Sue J]

Looking at my SS record it shows $25 for 1971, $8 for 1972 and $10 for 1973. I think those were for taking inventory in department stores. My sister and her friend were doing them and asked me to join but I only did a few.

My first real job was as a taxi cab driver in the Cleveland suburbs in the summer of 1974. The SS record says I made $651. I know I made more than that, I was getting cash tips and I don't remember how those were recorded (or NOT recorded!).

[ReadyForRetirement]

$1610 in 1978. Worked after school at the local John Deere dealer, Greenline Equipment in Mississippi. What a great job. I thought driving a forklift was the coolest at 15. The owner had a new corvette and he sent me to pickup a part from the bus station one day. Those were the perks back then. Ahh the memories.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

[Tadpole]

I worked in a ma and pa grocery store as a teen but, since the job doesn't show in my SS statement, I guess I was paid under the table. My first SS job was mail-order assembly line lab measurements.

[Bestwifeever]

$171 in summer of 1967, junior year of high school, lifeguard. Best job ever.

[madsquopper]

1971 - $599 as a stockboy at a big box store. Also had to do some menial stuff like cleaning the men's bathroom. One time I went in there and some guy was peeing in the sink. Didn't ask.

[NW-Bound]

My 1st SS record shows I made $285 in 1975 doing odd jobs.

But in 1980, when I had my 1st real job, I made $25,049. With inflation, that's $75,245 in today's dollars. I guess that was how I could afford the mortgage at 14% then.

[Htown Harry]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Looking4Ward 1976 - Long John Silvers, $2074 @ 2.10 an hour

Funny. The first job application I ever filled out was in 1976 at a Long John Silvers. I was crushed when they said no.

It turned out for the best, because the amusement park job I got instead lasted 5 years and led to meeting DW.

[Htown Harry]

I wasn't thinking about it when I started the thread, but seeing all of these great stories of summer jobs reminded me of this headline I saw a few days ago.

Times have changed...

By Skipping Summer Jobs, an Entire Generation of Young Americans Are Missing Crucial Skills - CityLab

Quote:

In my late teens, I developed skills that have served me invaluably as an employee and an economist. I had complete confidence that I could move just about anywhere, find a job, a place to live, support myself, and save money for college. One summer, I lived in an Alaskan fishing village where I worked a variety of odd jobs... ...In the U.S., kids today don’t work summer jobs in high school or college—not unless they have to. According to Census data from the ’70s, ’80s, and early ’90s, around 55 percent of 16- to 19-year-olds were employed each July; in 2014 fewer than 35 percent were. Even college-aged Americans are much less likely to work.

[Koolau]

ca. 1965 w*rked as a delivery guy and all-around gopher, janitor, flunky for $65/week - 44 hours - first summer/college job. I think this was the first time SS/MC was extracted from me. Prior w*rk was for cash (mowing lawns and cleaning gutters, etc. for little old ladies.)

[Sycamore]

1974: $225 working part-time as a carhop. My starting wage was $1.50/hour.

[DFA]

It was $45, for washing dishes in the school cafeteria. it was one of the low income put your kid to work for free lunch programs. I was 14 at the time in 1973.

[kaudrey]

1986 - worked in a bakery; had to be there at 5:30am (that was tough for a teen)!

Make $1,161 that year, at minimum wage, which I think was $2.35?

The owner ended up getting in a fight with the manager, and since the manager had hired most of the staff, the owner fired her and all of us. It was traumatic to be fired from my first job!