American young people are finding it harder to get a summer job than at any point in modern recorded history, with experts predicting this summer could produce the lowest hiring total for this age group since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking the data in 1948.
Joslyne Baird, 15, from a small Kentucky town, has been applying for about a year to summer camps, grocery stores and anything else she can find. She has heard back from no one. She said she wanted to help her family with bills and would do any work available.
Olivia Watson, 18, of Calhoun, Louisiana, has a similar story. She has been applying for about a month to local businesses, bakeries, retail stores, restaurants and customer service roles. She has had a few interviews but has not landed a position. She said employers want experience, which makes it difficult for first-time job seekers regardless of effort, and added that she plans to keep applying until she finds the right fit.
How bad is the teen job market
Challenger, Gray and Christmas, an outplacement firm, predicted this summer would fall to the worst pace of teen hiring in nearly 80 years. The firm used Bureau of Labor Statistics data to forecast 790,000 jobs gained by young workers through May, June and July, down from last year’s 801,000. Last summer was the weakest summer for teen hiring ever recorded, and the firm said the headwinds have only intensified.
The previous low before last summer was 932,000 jobs in 1949, with the next lowest coming in 2010 at 960,000. In April, approximately 5.2 million teenagers aged 16 to 19 were employed, down from about 5.5 million the prior year. The unemployment rate for that cohort was 14.4 percent in April, 14.7 percent in May and 14.6 percent in June.
The labor force participation rate for older teens was 35.4 percent as of June, down significantly from its 1978 peak of 59.3 percent.
Why employers are not hiring teens
Several structural factors are working against young job seekers. Inflation and rising fuel costs are squeezing the small businesses and households that have historically hired them for seasonal and part-time work. Automation and artificial intelligence are replacing the entry-level roles, cashiering, inventory checking and basic customer service that served as first-job pathways for generations.
Older workers returning to or delaying exit from the workforce also compete for the same part-time and seasonal positions.
The entrepreneurial alternative
Some are finding a way around the hiring barriers by creating their own work.
Tyler Brock, 18, of Duplin County, North Carolina, started working at 10 years old and never stopped. Today he owns a lawn care business servicing about 80 properties, is a partial owner of a trucking business and recently bought a hog farm capable of holding up to 2,600 hogs through a partnership with Smithfield Foods.
Jay Edouard, 19, of Long Island, started by selling candy to classmates in middle school. He moved into landscaping and snow shoveling and eventually found MyTeenGig, a website that connects young people to homeowners who will pay them for chores like yard work, pressure washing, tutoring and moving furniture.
MyTeenGig was created by Kerri Romeo, a pediatric physician assistant from Long Island, who saw a gap between young workers and homeowners needing help with tasks no app was connecting. She launched in April and has expanded across multiple states.
What teens can do
Experts advise young job seekers to tap their networks before applying cold to large employers, to have a resume ready and to dress professionally for any interaction that might lead to work. Blue-collar roles in construction, roofing and farm work are not at risk from automation or older workers, and some employers in those sectors struggle to find young people willing to take them.
