Teens in U.S. Find Summer Jobs Are Elusive as Economy Falters

[swag]

Source: Bloomberg

June 7 (Bloomberg) -- American teenagers looking for summer jobs are facing the worst prospects in five years as retailers and restaurants trim payrolls in response to a slowing economy.

The teenage jobless rate soared to 18.7 percent in May, the highest since June 2003, from 15.4 percent the month before, the Labor Department said yesterday. The increase was the biggest since the department began keeping the statistics in 1948. Overall, the unemployment rate rose half a point to 5.5 percent.

Bookseller Borders Group Inc., clothing store Talbots Inc. and movie-rental chain Blockbuster Inc. are among the companies trimming payrolls as consumers rein in spending. The tough job market for teens is another sign of the widening effects of the economic downturn that began with a slump in housing and spread to the financial industry.

``I said I'd be part-time or full-time, whatever they needed,'' said Jackie Brooks, a 19-year-old university student in Mishawaka, Indiana. ``Looking back, I never really had an issue finding a job for the summer. It's just a new thing.''



Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=akGs8tvX5fUk&refer=home

[kristopher]

1. and yet

Everywhere you go in our local beach communities, there are eastern european students on summer work visas.

[Carnea]

2. Taking the waitressing jobs american girls won't take.

Actually the guys have it worse. It used to be eight or ten guys could get together over the summer paint houses, do some light construction, mow lawns and rake in some serious tax free dough. Nowadays college and high school kids are shut out.

No Irish need apply.

:grr:

[trogdor]

17. You must live on the Jersey shore.

I think the problem here is the sheer number of workers needed to keep those money-sucking boardwalks (some like at Wildwood or Ocean City can be quite long) running. You can't run them on local labor alone, and putting ads in out-of-town papers is inefficient, so they usually get some outside HR company to provide the manpower.

[LuckyLib]

3. Meanwhile, college tuition is going through the roof.

[sasquatch]

4. And they wonder why they're running to Obama in droves

:etes:

[LeftyMom]

5. And rent. And textbooks.

Tuition here isn't terrible) (Full time is about $650/year at the two year colleges, $6000 or so at the four year schools) but the books can run well over $500 for a semester, and there's almost no on campus housing to be had, and rents are insane. And most students here still have to deal with cars and gas prices, since the transit system is a joke. Broadband internet is $50/mo, and you need that if you're in college. Groceries are up, and since there's no campus health system to speak of, medical costs are a concern (though most students I know get around this by foregoing any non-emergency health care.)

It's important to remember that college costs are so much more than just tuition.

[trogdor]

16. Two words on books - Amazon Marketplace.

Get the list of books from the school (ISBNs are helpful), and order the books from Amazon Marketplace. They're the same books, but you pay roughly half price, sometimes more. College bookstores are rackets out to rip you off.

[LeftyMom]

19. I know that.

But half the time there's a new edition out and no good deals yet, or the instructors release their book lists too late to buy online without having the savings eaten up by shipping.

[Mendocino]

6. My son has been applying for two months.

He will be 20 next month, has a good previous work record and gets excellent grades. But when your competing with adults in this economy, the adults get the jobs.

[Divine Discontent]

8. that's unfortunate he hasn't found anything

I will say, it's not just the teenagers, as my remaining parent, who's a former employee of the year from a previous large firm, cannot find work for 9 bucks or more an hour, this even after applying a hundred times and interviewing a half dozen times in the past year, but b/c of advancing age (61), they just don't seem to want to hire. The economy is DEAD... running on fumes and necessity - and the bubble of the housing crisis, inflated oil prices by speculators, and, OPEC not listening to W's request for them to produce more, has made it clear that things could get really bad if drastic action that is productive doesn't occur soon!

Obama more than ever, I say!

[boomerbust]

11. Not in my area

Disabled and living on a fixed income, applied for a 6 buck an hour diswashing job, the furst thing I heard was We have a lot of college kids applying, sorry.

[Selatius]

7. I'm a college student looking for summer work. Still haven't found one yet.

Typically, I'd be working by now, but the pickings are slimmer than usual.

[OhioChick]

15. Adults are taking the Summer jobs

that college kids used to come home to.

[DUlover2909]

9. When I was in high school I mowed yards for money

Can't do that any more. I wonder why.

[Carnea]

20. Yeah I did roofing one summer

$14 bucks an hour (Late eighties dollars good money) got nice fit and tan in the bargain. (Also got about a hundred tacks in my feet but thats another story.

Today the roofing job pays $8 bucks an hour and they are not interested in hiring Americans.

[bulloney]

10. Have you noticed that the benchmarks for all of this bad economic news are during Repub admin?

Jobless rate records highest increase since the early years of Dubya's administration; inflation at the highest level since Reagan; deficit spending highest since Reagan; trade deficits highest since the early Dubya years and on and on.

What does this tell you?

[mwb970]

12. It sure is different from those awful Clinton years!

Remember? Budget surpluses, record low poverty, record high wages, massive job creation, peace? Thank God we got the Republicans into office to put the kibosh on all of that! Thank you so bloody much george fricking bush!

[HughBeaumont]

24. That Americans are sloooooooooooow learners?

[fasttense]

13. I have two college kids and they both are having problems getting by.

My daughter spent most of her summer looking for a job and the only job my son could get was part time hours. Boy the economy is just wonderful. I bet all of the bushes fat friends are doing just fine.

[LiberalFighter]

14. And Mitch Daniels says everything is fine in Indiana. "We are an island of growth"

[LynneSin]

18. The problem I see is that gas will eat away at any chance to make & save money

My nephew is having a hard time with his summer job that for the most part - pays to keep his car running (and he has a very gas efficient car too).

[PRETZEL]

21. my daughter is lucky

she was able to get a job at the community center where she lives. She is a life guard and part time tumbling instructor. But by the same token, her mother and I have been badgering her for months to apply and she did has been working there for close to 3 months after school and weekends. Add that to her list of baby sitting clients and she should be ok.

[BearSquirrel2]

22. They are also pressured by illegal immigration ...

Illegal immigrants also fill many of the roles that teens used to.

[Q3JR4]

23. I'm not a teenager, I have a degree, and

I'm still having a hard time finding a job.

Q3JR4.

[rainbow4321]

25. It may depend on the area one lives in.....

My college age daughter lives in Austin, applied to 3 different jobs and was offered all three for the summer (2 daycares and a bakery--she picked the bakery where she will get an hourly rate and also tips. She's gonna keep the bakery job when school restarts.).
I live north of Dallas and every fast food place around here has a "now hiring" sign up and the movie theater where my other kid works just hired a couple dozen kids for the summer.

:shrug:

[customerserviceguy]

26. I'm sure things are doing OK

in the oil-rich areas. A sales rep for my company was telling me how the old idled "grasshoppers" in the oil country are starting to be fixed up, and are running again, pumping oil that was too expensive to extract when the stuff was $50 a barrel.

Back when I graduated from high school in 1974, we had a dandy recession, rising gasoline prices, and all the rest, we just had to be willing to wait to get some opportunities, or lower our sights a bit (not everybody could get the cushy ValuMart record department job like my friend Bob did.) Illegals are starting to go home, employers are really beginning to get freaked about hiring people that could be rounded up overnight. Things will bounce back for the younger people, like it did for my generation.