USA Today: Teens have harder time landing a summer job

[marmar]

Teens have harder time landing a summer job
Updated 1d 20h ago


WILMINGTON, Del. — Shemi Benge, 18, just graduated from Kennett High School in Kennett Square, Pa., and wants to earn some cash before heading to Tulane University in New Orleans in the fall. The job applications she has dropped off so far have gone nowhere.

"It's hard finding your first job, because people want you to have experience," Benge said.

And in today's economy, there are plenty of people with that experience also looking for work.

Teens nationwide are finding it difficult to nail down a summer job this year. Economists foresee the worst summer job market for teens since 1948, when the government began tracking teenage work, according to research published by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston.

The U.S. Department of Labor reported on June 6 that the nation's unemployment rate in May climbed to 5.5%, up from 5% in April. It was the biggest one-month jump since 1986. And with schools closing and students entering the seasonal workforce, the rate among teens took an even bigger hit: 18.7% in May, vs. 15.4% in April.

As a result of weak consumer spending, businesses are hiring less and, in some cases, cutting jobs altogether. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2008-06-15-summer-jobs_N.htm?csp=34

[melm00se]

1. teens get

hit hardest when there is any significant change in the labor market or labor costs. That comes with being at the bottom of the labor ladder - they have very little to offer other than a warm body that costs money to train and who won't be around for any significant amount of time.