Consider the findings of Neeta Fogg, Paul
Harrington and Ishwar Khatiwada, researchers
at Drexel University’s Center for Labor Markets
and Policy who issue an annual forecast for the
teenage summer job market. This year, they
predict, will be the best summer for teenage
lifeguards, ice cream scoopers and sales clerks
since 2008; 31.5% of 16- to 19-year-olds will
have jobs.
Teenage employment had been on a long
slide, leading many analysts to lament the
end of summertime jobs that gave teens
work experience and a chance to mingle
with colleagues and customers from
varying backgrounds.
In August 1978, 50% of teenagers were working,
according to the U.S. Labor Department. Their
employment rate hasn’t been that high since.
The figure began a long slide in 2000 and fell
especially steeply during the Great Recession.
The eruption of coronavirus produced a new
low: Only 26.3% of teens had jobs last summer,
according to the Drexel researchers.
The long-term drop in teen employment has
reflected both broad economic shifts and
personal choices. The U.S. economy includes
fewer low-skill, entry-level jobs — ready-made
for teens — than it did in the 1970s and 1980s.
And such jobs that do remain have been
increasingly likely to be taken by older workers,
many of them foreign born.
In addition, teens from affluent families, eager
to secure admission to top universities, have for
years chosen summer academic programs over
jobs or have pursued ambitious volunteer work
in hopes of distinguishing their applications