My first year of SS contributions

[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.


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[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]

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

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!

 

[Dog]

SS statement shows $102 earnings for 1974. I was a bus person in a local pizza joint.



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[Big_Hitter]

lifeguard 1979

 

[karen1972]

First job at 15, made $2330 washing dishes for $3.35/hr .. but I had been making money since 3rd grade as labor laws around farming youth are rather loose.

The interesting thing though is with all my jobs from 15-22, I have a decent amount of SS paid in so when I retired at 43, I had 28 years of SS paid in and had hit that last tier already so working longer does not actually increase my SS significantly...without those earning years, I would have to re-think retiring that early. Granted I had very good paying jobs since I was 18 including making $7/hr at Taco Bell (when minimum wage was $3.75) and making $12-15/hr co-oping with IBM so was ahead of the curve.

 

[rbmrtn]

Late 70's. Picked up, cleaned and delivered typewriters mostly for school typing classes. Business machine company had contract with school system for maintenance. I think I started thinking about retirement then....

Blew that summer earnings on a fender stratocaster, still have it

 

[robnplunder]

I was 17, only 3 years after coming to America (Los Angeles to be exact). A family member convinced my father that there is a good job, no questions asked. He took my dad who then took me to this factory. Well, there were jobs all right. They were hiring anyone off street to break a union strike. As we were bused into factory site, people on both side of the bus were yelling, waiving pickets, etc.. like a scene out of a movie. I was hired and worked (or tried to work but there wasn't anything to do other than sitting around) a full 8 hours. At the end of the day, a manager came to me and told me I was too young to work in a factory and fired me on the spot. But I got paid a full day's work. That was my 1st SS contribution although I worked at "cash" only jobs since I was 14. Not a proud moment in my immigration history ... a being a scab.

 

[Independent]

Working at McDonald's in 1964.

The building had window service only (no indoor or outdoor seating, most people ate in their cars). It was under two big golden arches, and had the "Over ___ million served" sign.

I remember getting paid $1.10/hr, but that might have been after a raise.

 

[eytonxav]

Working at McDonald's in 1964.

The building had window service only (no indoor or outdoor seating, most people ate in their cars). It was under two big golden arches, and had the "Over ___ million served" sign.

I remember getting paid $1.10/hr, but that might have been after a raise.

Bet you wish you had purchased MCD stock back in those days

 

[athena53]

However, I guess my paper route earnings, years before that, never got reported.

Back when newspaper delivery was done mostly by kids (in the last 2 years I see mostly large adult-scale routes), newspapers claimed that the kids delivering the paper were independent contractors. This led to quite a few sad stories in which kids were killed or injured while delivering papers and there was no Workers' Compensation to cover them. In theory, you were expected to report those earnings yourself and pay the Self-Employment Tax!

 

[HFWR]

1971 - Earned a whopping $159, pumping gas all summer, then being a DJ for three months.

 

[eytonxav]

Back when newspaper delivery was done mostly by kids (in the last 2 years I see mostly large adult-scale routes), newspapers claimed that the kids delivering the paper were independent contractors. This led to quite a few sad stories in which kids were killed or injured while delivering papers and there was no Workers' Compensation to cover them. In theory, you were expected to report those earnings yourself and pay the Self-Employment Tax!

Sorry, but being 12 yo in 1961, I never received a 1099