This article examines the economic status of two-parent families and the earnings contribution of employed teens and young adults. Using data from the 1989 Consumer Expenditure Survey, this study describes and compares two-parent families including employed and nonemployed teens ages 14-17 and young adults ages 18-24. Descriptive results indicate that 5.7 million families, or about 63 percent of all two-parent families with an oldest child 14-24 years, had an employed teen or young adult in 1989. About 47 percent of the families with teens, compared with 80 percent of the families with young adults had an employed child. Average annual earnings by 14-17 year olds were $1,579, or about five percent of before tax family income. Mean annual earnings by 18-24 year olds were $7,379, or 16 percent of before tax family income. Family status differed significantly when teens and young adults worked, as revealed by discriminant analysis. Employed teens were more likely to be from upper socioeconomic, white families than were nonemployed teens. Employed young adults also tended to be from upper socioeconomic, homeowner families, compared with nonemployed young adults. Tables and graphics include: (1) characteristics of two-parent families with and without employed children, ages 14-24, 1989; (showing level of parent's education); (2) reasons why oldest child, age 18-24, did not work in 1989; (3) two-parent family income, children's earnings, and family expenditures (showing expenditures on "education and reading"); (4) percentage of before tax income; and (5) discriminant analyses of demographic and expenditure variables by age and employment status of oldest child (with parental education and expenditures on education as discriminant factors). Although teens did not make a significant contribution to family income, families with employed teens were better off financially than their nonemployed counterparts. (DK)