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This study uses data from the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS) to examine the characteristics of high school leavers and high school graduates who worked (or not) during their last year in high school and to investigate the relationship between working while in high school and dropping out. The study found that the majority of students, both males and females, worked during their last year in high school. Whether a student worked or not varied by a number of characteristics including age, language, cultural background, province, the presence of dependent children, and whether or not their parents worked. While most students worked, they did not necessarily work the same number of hours. Over half of all students worked anywhere from one to thirty hours per week, less than ten percent worked more than thirty hours per week, and just over a third of students did not work at all. Male students worked longer hours than female students. When hours of work and dropping out were examined together, it was found that the proportion of leavers varied among hours of work. Further analysis identified a number of other factors, including demographics, family background, and high school experience, that were also associated with dropping out. When these other factors were controlled, the relationship between hours of work and dropping out remained significant. Specifically, compared to students who worked one to less than twenty hours per week, students who did not work at all were more likely to drop out and students who worked thirty or more hours per week were the most likely to drop out of high school. While there was a clear relationship between the number of hours worked and dropping out, the study did not conclude that this was a simple cause-and-effect relationship. In fact, previous research suggests that dropping out of school is best viewed as a process.