America’s teens will have a tough time landing one of the more plentiful summer jobs, competing with more experienced adults for work in malls, restaurants and movie theaters, a U.S. employment expert says.
Although overall job prospects are brighter this year than last as the economy recovers, Challenger, Gray & Christmas forecasts the market will be more competitive for job-seeking teens.
Challenger Gray estimates that hiring will improve over last year, when employment among 16- to 19-year-olds grew by less than 1.2 million jobs from May through July, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“It is unlikely that summer employment gains among teens will reach pre-recession levels, but we should definitely see increased hiring compared to 2008 and 2009, which experienced the weakest summer teen job growth since the 1950s,” said CEO John A. Challenger.
“But make no mistake; the competition for these jobs will be significant.”
Youth job seekers, he said, will compete for certain types of jobs, such as retail and food service, with recent college graduates or older workers who need to supplement retirement income.
Teens are less likely to face older competition in more traditional summer job areas, such as day camps, neighborhood pools and amusement parks, Challenger said.
Websites specializing in teen job searching also see modest gains in summer employment this year.
According to a March survey by hourly job website SnagAJob.com, 29 percent of managers responsible for summer hiring said they intend to add the same number of seasonal workers as last year.
Six percent plan to hire more summer workers. However, 47 percent of companies are not planning any seasonal hires and 18 percent said they plan to hire fewer workers (though, that was down from 23 percent who said the same in 2009).
Teens4Hire.org expects only a slight improvement in teen employment this summer. It notes that there are fewer jobs available that teens could fill and more competition from older job seekers.
