An analysis of the first three annual rounds of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, sponsored by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor, was conducted to determine the employment experiences of youth. (The survey includes a nationally representative sample of about 9,000 young men and women who were born during the years 1980 to 1984. These respondents were ages 12 to 17 when first interviewed in 1997 and the oldest were age 20 when interviewed a third time in 1999-2000.) Results from the survey of these youths classify them into one of two job categories: those with "employee" jobs, in which they had an ongoing formal relationship with a particular employer; and those with "freelance" jobs in which they performed one or a few tasks for several people. Highlights of the findings include the following: (1) nearly 65 percent of working students who were age 15 at the beginning of the 1998-99 school year worked at an employee job some time during both the school year and the following summer, as did 75 percent of working students age 16 and 78 percent of working students age 17; (2) the percent of students employed during any week of the 1998-99 school year and in the following summer remained steady from September to February, increased in the spring, and peaked in July; (3) female youths were less likely than male youths to hold an employee job while age 15, but by age 17, the gender gap disappeared; and (4) youths who worked exclusively at freelance jobs while age 14 were very likely to continue working at freelance jobs while age 15, but were more likely to move to employee jobs by age 16. (KC)