A study examined character and consequences of student part-time work using data from the 1975 birth cohort of the Youth in Transition project of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth program. Findings indicated that most students worked because they liked the independence their job gave, enjoyed the work, and believed the experience would help them gain employment in later life; employed students were more likely to be happy with many aspects of their lives; and students did not perceive jobs to have a significant negative impact on school performance. The hypothesis that a part-time job could adversely affect school performance was tested by examining the associations between in-school employment and school completion and year 12 results. Findings showed that employment status did not have an adverse effect on likelihood of secondary school completion or on academic performance in year 12; end of school results of year 12 students were a little lower for those who had been intense workers during years 11 and 12; part-time work reduced likelihood of post-school unemployment; a part-time job was significant in reducing amount of time spent unemployed in early post-school years; the highly gender-segregated jobs of in-school workers and their later occupations were only slightly related; and hourly earnings at age 19 and having a part-time job in school were not related. (Contains 44 references and 14 tables.) (YLB)