Low Job Market Screws Teenagers This Summer

Every summer, many teenagers and young adults flock to their local retail stores and restaurants looking for summer jobs. They fill out applications, often to lots of different places, and keep their fingers crossed. Unfortunately, not all of them will get jobs. This summer, it is predicted that only 34% of young adults aged 16-19 will succeed in finding employment.

A big misconception about the teenagers without jobs is that they're lazy, that they don't work hard enough, that they must not have filled out the application correctly or done well enough in the interviews. That certainly doesn't do any good for the self-esteem of those who haven't found employment. Many teenagers who don't find jobs have to answer to their parents, who expect their kids to make their own money over the summer. These misconceptions and expectations are only adding unnecessary stress, when it's not their fault.

The biggest problem affecting the job market is the current recession - there just isn't enough money to hire people this summer. There are too many people looking for jobs and too few openings to fill. Gas prices and inflation are leading to fewer people taking the summer off to go on vacation, leading to fewer summer-only openings. There may be a little more hope for teenagers who intend to stick around once school starts, but that's just not possible for some applicants who go away to college, participate in extra-curriculars, or who pursue a rigorous academic curriculum that requires their full attention.

Many teenagers who manage to find work over the summer are the ones who work during the school year, or have already worked for their employers during past summers when the job market wasn't as bleak. This makes the job hunt especially bleak for teenagers who don't work during the school year, haven't had jobs before, or who go to college far away and can't start the job hunt until they get home in April or May - unless they take the time to come home on weekends to look for jobs ahead of time.

It is also difficult for teenagers who don't have any previous experience. Experienced applicants are always favored over those without experience, making the current job market hard to break into at this time.

At this point - in early June - many of the summer openings have already been filled, and it's getting increasingly tougher for those still unemployed to find jobs. There's a point at which employers don't have time to train new employees for the summer if they're only going to stick around until the end of August.

Teenagers still hunting for jobs should try what they can, hope for the best, and anticipate the worst.