Bus boy/dishwasher. I believe my first salary was $2.85 an hour.

1980- I was a projectionist in the Astra Cinema, Rheindahlen at night and a Civilian Labourer in the RAF supply Flight during the day.
Can't remember how much I got payed, spent it all on beer, cigarettes and petrol.
Life was tough, everything was duty free, my Mam would only take 50DM a month in rent and we were within a days ride of Holland, France, the Nurburgring etc.
On a Friday we would shut up shop, nip to the NAAFI and buy 2 crates of Grolsch. Then we'd play darts in the SGT's office all afternoon.
God it was hard :-)

"Headhunter", late 1990s. Gave up after 9 months because I absolutely abhor using a telephone
Got me €1600/month in today's money, but 40% of that went to taxes.

By real job I expect you mean one where a W2 form was provided.

1978 at age 14: Dishwasher/Prep Cook for $2.65/hr.

1980 at age 16: Junior Leaders Regiment Royal Engineers, about £120 a month.

1974 ... A small supermarket (roustabout) .. Mon-Fri 8-5, Sat 8-1
$16 Week

After leaving 3 month later .. 4yr apprenticeship in a hospitality trade .. $19 Week (and only 40hr week)

Could it ever get better than that?

Yes .. it did, but with much experience learnt throughout the journey.

$16 a week? What was rent back in those days?

My first apartment was $150 in 1983 and it was brand new with full bedroom and separate full bathroom, 2 walk in closets, a storage closet outside on the patio/balcony, a full kitchen, washer and dryers and over 760 square feet.

I thought it was a mansion compared to the little 10x8 room with no closet I had at my parents' home.

Was staying at home Mum/Dad (only just left school) paid board $6 week.
Moved in with mate and his mother after 2 years was paying $12

When finished trade had 2 bedroom, fully furnished unit.. $35 week ... Wage $180

Best years of my life!

Paper route at age 11. I can't even remember how much, it was so little. All thru high school I had a job working nights at a gas station/mechanics garage. I remember running out and filling up peoples tanks, checking the oil, tires, and cleaning the wind shield. On Wednesday and Saturday nights me and my good friend were left alone to run the place. We would bring in our crappy little high school cars (mine was 1976 Mustang) and put them up on the hoist. We had all the tools and supplies we needed. I learned basic car maintenance there. Had a blast. Going out on tow truck runs was the best. Whatever minimum wage was in 1980 to 1983 was what I made.

First real job U.S. Army in 1988 3 months after I turned 18. Under $600 month after taxes as an E-1

First job was in the paintshop of my father's garage, fetching and running errands just for pocket money, I was about 12 as I remember it was before my 13th birthday.

Gas island and grease monkey at Whelan's Garage in the summer of 1969 made $1.00/hr. cash. I don't really think I was actually on the payroll. Mr. Whelan would give me 2x $20 bills every Thursday.

First job about 1980 forged my birth cert to get it.
simply photo copied and altered the dates and handed it in.
It was a large supermarket chain that hired me I was fourteen should have been sixteen.
Was still in school so I worked evenings sat and Sundays the pay was good thought I was rich earned about sixty pounds a week
Meant I could play pool every day after work.
but it was a bad experience there were a lot of power hungry trainee managers in the store,
Ended up hitting one for trying to humiliate me in front of some female staff I was pissed when I got fired for it.
But got a another job two weeks later and loved it stayed for years with them, till I left school they offered me a trainee managers job. but I had my hart set on moving to the UK.

USAF was my third real job. I came in as an E3 because I signed up for 6 years...made a whopping $10,000 a year...lol.

Hmmm, first job would be 1974 when I was nine. I borrowed two dollars from my mom for some hand grass clippers and went around the apartment complex trimming along steps and the side of the building for a quarter. Paid Mom back after the first afternoon and made enough to buy a big bag of marbles and some other stuff.

First salaried job was the Army Reserves in 1983, a hundred bucks a month for a weekend's work!

I think was around 15 years old.

Back in the day, a cutter brought around 25 hobby-fishermen out into the Baltic where they were fishing, a trip normally lasted 8 to 10 hours. Was very popular back than, because you could buy cigarettes and alcohol duty-free. I cleaned the cutter, when it was back in the harbor. Pay was around 3 €/hour.

1982 (14): First job was working with my self-employed father painting houses, didn't last long. I don't remember what I was getting paid, it couldn't have been much.

1984 (16): First W2 job was a typical high-school part-time minimum wage (or close to it) grocery store job. It helped me get my first car and a little independence.

1986 (18): First semi-professional job was with the Louisiana Dept. of Public Safety - Data Processing. Pay wasn't much, something like $6.00/hr + benefits, but the job itself was awesome (mainframe and PC operations and communications).

I volunteered to leave the computer area to draft floor plans for a new computer room layout and realized I had a knack for architectural/technical drawings. From then on I focused on computer drafting and then programming.

I didn't make any *real* money until I moved to Atlanta, but even then I never matched my wife's income. She's been with the same company for almost 27 years, they've been very good to us.

$6 per hour plus benefits in 1986 for a position that didn't required a college degree was a fortune.

Hmm... I guess I shouldn't complain then.

I had a paper route for a couple of years in the early 90's. It was actually 2 routes that they made into 1, but there was another route in the middle of it. I shared it with a friend, but he didn't like to get up, and we were both horrible about collecting. We basically would collect when we needed money for something, and when we didn't we would let people get by for like 2-3 months without paying.

When I was in high school a small local paper needed someone to write a local sports column and cover high school sports. I made something like $15 a column and $25 per picture that got published. It was a pretty cool job for a high school student, but looking back on it I am curious how they lasted considering I was't the only high school student they employed to write for them at the time.

Right out of high school I got a job working a the University I was about to attend. It was (and still is I suppose) in my hometown and my next door neighbor was in charge of purchasing. He pretty much made a summer position just for me. I made something over $10 an hour but I don't remember what it was exactly. The job wasn't hard, but it was pretty physical and working 40 hours a week was kind of an eye opener. I managed to save up enough money to not have to work at all during my freshman year in college. They brought me back again the next summer and because I had "experience" they gave me a huge raise. In fact I think I was making more that summer 15 years ago than I do now.