Teens compete with laid-off adults for summer jobs

JACKSON, N.J. -- Teenagers who lined up in beige folding chairs at a Six Flags amusement park job fair last month continually repeated the gripe: The hunt for summer work is brutal.

Stephanie Russo, 17, applied for jobs at a grocery store, a clothing retailer, a pet store, a kennel, an ice cream parlor and even a Minor League baseball team. Yet, here she was on a Saturday morning vying against her peers — as well as laid-off older workers and cash-strapped retirees — for work. Her boyfriend, Brandon Hawkins, 16, also had applied for various positions at local businesses but could only get hired at fast-food restaurant Arby's, where his sister already has a job — the last place he wanted to be working.

Teens across the nation are facing a similar plight: They need summer jobs for car insurance, college funds and spending money, but the prospects are bleak.

The hiring environment looks like it'll be even harsher than last summer, which was deemed the worst teen employment market in six decades, in a report from the Northeastern University Center for Labor Market Studies.

Last June through August, just 32.7% of teens worked, down from 45% for the same period in 2000, according to seasonally adjusted data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unemployment for 16-to-19-year-olds hit 21.7% in March, up from 15.8% last March, according to the bureau. That's the highest rate since 1992. New data will be released Friday.

While the dour economy makes it difficult for any job applicant, younger workers are particularly disadvantaged, says Renée Ward, founder of job-focused website Teens4Hire.org. Given the choice of hiring a youth or an adult, most employers "will go with the more mature person, because they feel there is less that they have to do to train them," she says.

More paycheck-seeking older workers are moving into teen-friendly jobs such as babysitter, valet car parker, amusement park worker and grocery store cashier. Already, 18% of 12-to-17-year-olds said they're working alongside more adults and former retirees, according to a February survey by Junior Achievement.

Six Flags, which has 20 parks across the U.S., Mexico and Canada, has "definitely seen more adult (applicants) this year," says spokeswoman Sandra Daniels. "We've seen retirees. We've seen people who have been laid off," as well as full-time workers, such as teachers, who are just looking for "a secondary income."

Adding to teens' work woes, hiring managers — especially those at mom-and-pop shops — are expected to gravitate toward adults as the federal minimum wage increases from $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour in late July.