Vivien Yoshikawa from Brazil says it is common for teenagers to work in her country
In my country, Brazil, teenagers usually work. The poorer they are, the more they have to work. One of the most important reasons why they work is to earn money.
They spend money on different things. It depends on if they are poor or not. Teenagers from low income families usually don’t have enough education themselves to get a well-paid job. Teenagers from medium income families also work to earn money, but for different reasons. They work to gain their independence. They also work to be able to buy extra things or have an extra night of fun.
Teenagers with little education take “office boy” jobs. For example, they do small jobs like going to a bank, buying things the company needs, and carrying important papers to other companies. These aren’t pleasant jobs, and they don’t earn much money.
In comparison, middle class teens usually work in stores, mostly in malls. They try to sell as much as they can because beyond their salary, they earn extra money for each thing they sell. Obviously they won’t get rich with this job, but at least it’s only a part-time job, and they can study in the mornings.
In contrast, teenagers from low income families have to take full-time jobs, and they are able to take only evening classes which are less useful than morning classes.
We don’t have laws saying if teenagers can or can’t work, but the government says that all of them must study. But the law is hard to enforce, so teenagers working in my country are as common as adults working.