The summer job, a rite of passage for teens, may be fading away
Ugenie Labranche, 16, who has been searching for a summer job since January, thought her luck had finally turned when she spotted a “hiring now” sign outside a Dunkin’ in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. But when she called recently, she was told the store wasn’t hiring.
It has happened a few times. A sign in the window, hopeful calls, only to be told the position is no longer available. Labranche, who will be a junior in the fall, has applied to more than a dozen jobs but still hasn’t landed one. Often, she doesn’t hear back at all.
“It is frustrating because there are a lot of kids my age that want to work and they just can’t,” she said.
Teens across the country are entering one of the toughest summer job markets in years, as traditional jobs at restaurants, amusement parks, pools and stores either pause hiring or choose adults for roles.
In May, the unemployment rate for teens rose to 13.4%, from 13% in April and 12.4% a year ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said.
A tighter labor market suggests teen unemployment could reach its highest level in a decade, said Andy Challenger, senior vice president of the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. In May 2015, the unemployment rate for teenagers was 17.8%, but it began to decline before the pandemic.
This year, the firm estimates there will be about 1 million new summer jobs for 16- to 19-year-olds. It could be the lowest number since 2010, Challenger said.
Uncertainty about the economy is a major reason, said Alicia Sasser Modestino, an economist at Northeastern University in Boston. Some businesses are freezing roles or cutting seasonal positions over concerns about lower consumer confidence and fears that consumer spending will weaken under President Donald Trump’s tariff policies: “Now when we’re starting to see the labor market cool off a bit in general, we’re seeing it hit teenagers harder, and teenagers first. That’s because they’re really the canary in the coal mine. They are the last to be hired, the first to be fired.”
Tourism, another teen job driver, is down. Spending from international visitors to the United States is expected to drop by $8.3 billion this year, according to a recent Oxford Economics report.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.