I often hear the lament that good help is hard to find and people often roll their eyes at the number of kids now who don’t get summer jobs. But as the dad of two teens who were informed their summer plans included getting summer jobs, we discovered finding those available jobs was tough.
My oldest has been applying to jobs since early June and by mid-July he landed one interview. My youngest got a job bagging groceries at a supermarket, one of the few employers hiring teens in large numbers, but with so many working there he’s only getting scheduled for four to eight hours a week. Consider it summer job lite.
It is a shock to the system for me. I have worked since I was 15. My first summer job at a grocery store lasted my entire high school career. During college I worked summers at a bakery, washed dishes in an Italian restaurant and also worked as a stringer for a free weekly newspaper that paid me $2 a story and 15 cents for every inch printed (I blame them for my lack of brevity today).
Those early jobs prepared me for the working world. I learned soft skills such as how to be on time, how to get along with coworkers, how to take responsibility for tasks, and to follow direction. Those skills were essential building blocks for succeeding in a future career.
Yet, it is getting harder for teens to find jobs. “The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 219,000 fewer teens working this May compared to last May. Their participation in the labor force has been sliding since a peak of nearly 58% in the 1970s. Today, about a third of teens are in the labor force, either working or looking for summer work,” NH Public Radio reported in early June.
Yes, teenagers will always find other ways to spend their summers, but for those who want to work, there are fewer opportunities. Supermarkets and large retailers have more self-checkout options. Some see teenagers as an investment that won’t pay off for the short amount of time they will have them. And while some restaurants ramp up hiring during the summer, others have learned to live with a smaller staff.
No matter the reason, fewer summer jobs means more younger people will enter the workforce in their early 20s with little or no work experience. That means teaching all those vital soft skills will fall on their first-time employers.
Hopefully by the time you read this my oldest will have a part-time job and my youngest will have a few more hours under his belt. As for the rest of us, be prepared to focus more on helping the next generation of employees develop those soft skills.
Sincerely,
Matthew J. Mowry,
Co-Publisher and Executive Editor
