Schools are nearly closed for teens across the country, and those hoping to get a summer job may have a hard time finding one.
Last summer, teen employment fell to its lowest level in nearly eight decades, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, and forecasters predict it could drop even lower this summer. The Challenger, Gray and Christmas report predicts American teens will gain 790,000 jobs in May, June and July, down from 801,000 last summer.
According to BLS data, 5.193 million people ages 16 to 19 were employed last month, down from 5.487 million in April last year.
“With fewer teens on the payroll already in the busiest recruiting months, the runway for a strong summer is narrower than in years,” the report said.
Why are teens’ hiring expectations low?
Teens face the same challenging low-rent environment as adult job seekers. While U.S. employers added more than 100,000 jobs in March and April, hiring remained concentrated in select sectors like health care and social assistance — industries not typically known for employing high school students.
A few factors are contributing to this low-rent environment. The Challenger report identifies four: rising inflation and oil prices are increasing costs for businesses; Self-checkout and automation replacing cashier and customer service roles; competition from older workers looking for similar jobs; and a small teen labor force participation rate.
It says that while the rate was closer to 50% in the 1970s and ’80s, today it is 33.8%, as teens instead pursue sports, educational programs and other summer opportunities.
Brad Sugars, business coach and founder of ActionCoach, said that as entry-level opportunities for recent college graduates dwindle, teens are competing with them.
“That college graduate who might have gone and got a full-time job is now going back into the part-time market,” Sugars said.
How do macroeconomic trends affect teen employment?
Corey Kantenga, head of Americas Economics at LinkedIn, explains how higher gas prices can affect a teen’s ability to get a job at the local grocery store.
“You need to get new deliveries of bread, fruits, vegetables, and to get those deliveries, they often have to be trucked in,” he said. As fuel prices rise, businesses need somewhere to offset those higher delivery costs. “Where do people cut back? They cut back in areas where they feel they might have a little more flexibility, and that’s often younger workers.”
And businesses are not just struggling with rising input costs.
“Everything in the economy is connected to everything else,” said senior economist Corey Stahl, adding that if people are spending more on gas, they may stop spending at their local ice cream shop. “As a business you look at this and say, ‘This is really worrisome. We’re not sure if we should be hiring at the same capacity.'”
Are there still job opportunities for teenagers?
Hiring trends vary by region, and teenagers may find more opportunities in tight labor markets. Nationally, there are some bright spots.
Employment platforms are seeing an increase in demand for lifeguards amid a years-long national shortage. Kantenga said there also appears to be an increased need for shelf stockers, camp counselors and restaurant hosts and servers this year.
“There is still likely to be some opportunity in the retail and hospitality sectors,” Kantenga said. “They’re just going to be a little more targeted, so it’s important to know, ‘I may not necessarily be able to get the summer assistant manager training role, but there may still be a host role available.'”
The Challenger report included some tips for teens trying to get a summer role. It is advisable that they start looking now, as June is the most popular month for recruiting for teenagers, use your friends and families for opportunities, keep your online presence clean and improve your resume.
“(College) graduates who had any work experience on their resumes were more than twice as likely to find a job within three months after graduation as their peers who did not,” said Nicole Bachaud, economist at ZipRecruiter. “A child care program, or if you’ve planned a garage sale for your neighborhood, or anything that can really show organization and communication — those skills are what employers are really looking for.”
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