Fussbucket

Cross-posted at MotherTalkers

by Stacey

Teenagers who want to scoop ice cream or sell clothing from their favorite store this summer may have a harder time than usual landing a job. This article in the NY Times says that little more than one-third of the 16- to 19-year-olds in the United States are likely to be employed this summer, the smallest share since the government began tracking teenage work in 1948, according to a research paper published by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston.

As the forces of economic downturn ripple widely across the United States, the job market of 2008 is shaping up as the weakest in more than half a century for teenagers looking for summer work, according to labor economists, government data and companies that hire young people. This deterioration is jeopardizing what many experts consider a crucial beginning stage of working life, one that gives young people experience and confidence along with pocket money.

The article says that retailers, a major source of summer jobs, are grappling with a loss of American spending power, causing some to pull back in hiring. Restaurants, also big employers of teenagers, are adding jobs at a slower pace than in previous summers, said Hudson Riehle, senior vice president for research at the National Restaurant Association in Washington.

“When you go into a recession, kids always get hit the hardest,” said Andrew Sum, an economist at the Center for Labor Market Studies who led the study on the summer job market. “Kids always go to the back of the hiring queue. Now, they find themselves with a lot of other people in line ahead of them.”

Teenage employment has dropped steadily since the late 1970s when nearly half of all 16- to 19-year olds had summer jobs, the article says.

Some economists contend this is a good sign, reflecting a rising percentage of teenagers completing high school and going on to college, with some enrolling in summer academic programs, leaving less time for work. In addition, more affluent high school teens may use the summer months to gain experience worthy of bragging rights on college applications.

But others contend that plenty of teenagers want to work but face increasing difficulties landing jobs. From early 2001 to the middle of 2007, the number of Americans employed outside the military grew more than 8.3 million, according to the Labor Department, yet employment among teenagers fell more than 1.2 million.

Obviously my kids are too young to work, but I am remembering summer jobs that I had during the end of high school and throughout college. Those were fun times and I learned a lot being in the “real” world. It would be a shame for kids to miss out on those early work experiences.

What do you think? Did you work as a teenager? How valuable of an experience was it for you?