Cutting grass, delivering newspapers, flipping burgers and answering phones. Remember these types of jobs? This is how some of us remember spending our summer hours, earning minimum wage and praying for school to start.

But even summer jobs are going virtual, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The journal reports on six young workers who are finding quite lucrative work in virtual worlds. Six out of the seven young entrepreneurs the story reports on work in Second Life. One designs characters; another is an architect; others develop land. Another kid works in Entropia Universe as a “hunter and trader.”

The article points out that, while the earnings do vary, the economy in virtual worlds is very real. The architect expects to earn $4,000 per month, while a SL filmmaker expects to make $2,000-4,000 per month. I wonder whether anyone’s saving for college gold farming in WoW?

As New World Notes recently pointed out, the positive press of a year and a half ago went negative, but the wheel seems to be turning back again:

In recent months, Forbes has written favorably about practical uses of Second Life for education and innovation; before that, Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson wrote a reconsideration of the negative article he commissioned, and last December, was spotted citing SL as a model for the future of business. Taken together, they represent a decided shift in the outside narrative. It’ll be interesting to see the ripples of this move pass through the tech world, as all those who dismissed Second Life out of hand on the basis of those earlier reports slowly realize their rationale has eroded out from under them.