American Teens Can’t Find Summer Jobs


Teenagers are, like, so lazy. A new report finds that more than 70 percent of American teenagers are jobless over the summer. That’s the lowest figure since World War II.

About 5.1 million, or just 29.6 percent, of 16- to 19-year-olds were employed last summer. Adjusted for seasonal factors, the rate dips to 25.7 percent. In 1978, the share reached a peak of nearly 60 percent before waves of immigration brought in new low-skill workers. Teen employment remained generally above 50 percent until 2001, dropping sharply to fresh lows after each of the past two recessions.

American teens are apparently struggling to find work because the economy has left many more-qualified individuals like recent college graduates filling positions typically filled by high school kids (Read: shit rolls downhill). And things aren’t exactly looking up for teenagers:

According to government projections, the teens entering the U.S. labor force are expected to decline another 8 percentage points by 2020. By that time, young adults ages 16 to 24 will make up 11 percent of the labor force. While increased schooling is a factor, much of the recent employment decline is due to increased competition from other age groups for entry-level jobs that teens normally would fill.

As teens struggle to find work over the summer, we’re forced to revisit an age-old question: Does this report make the Lower Merion High School Adderall dealer the exception or the rule? Technically, he’s got a job, right? But he can’t be slinging many “good-grade pills” while school’s out, can he? [Philly.com]