Teens in summer jobs see pay rise
More streaming back to labor force this year
As the pandemic recedes and more Americans travel, attend ballgames and resume other summer rituals, employers are relying on a secret weapon to meet the surging demand: teenagers.
Teens are expected to make up nearly 1 in 5 summer hires this year, according to data provided exclusively to USA TODAY by Gusto, a payroll company for small businesses.
Although many U.S. adults sidelined by the pandemic have returned to the labor force, teens have streamed back more swiftly, especially for summer jobs. Many are drawn by sharply higher pay and a desire to get out of the house after long stretches of remote classes and other pandemic-related constraints the past few years, experts say.
“Even though the overall economy is slowing, the (job) market for teenagers is still very strong,” says Gusto economist Luke Pardue.
The robust teenage workforce is helping restaurants, amusement parks, hotels, malls and other businesses stay open longer and provide faster and better service to consumers as pandemic-related worker shortages improve but persist in many regions. It’s also bolstering an economy that most forecasters believe will slip into a recession later this year.
Teenagers age 15 to 19 are expected to make up 18% of all summer hires, Gusto says, up from just 2% in 2019, before the pandemic began. That’s partly because there are disproportionately more jobs in restaurants, hotels, amusement parks and stores as Americans step up summer activities. But even within that “personal services” category, teens are set to make up 26% of all hires, up from 21% a year ago, Gusto says.
More teens are getting snapped up by employers largely because more are looking for jobs.
The share of 16- to 19-year-olds working or job hunting hit nearly 37% for all of last year, the highest since 2009, Labor Department figures show. Their participation rate peaked at almost 47% last July and that will likely be topped this summer, with the rate so far in 2023 already surpassing last year’s pace.
The trend is partly reversing a longstanding decline in teen employment. The share of teens working or looking for jobs tumbled from 58% in 1979 to around 35% in 2020, Labor Department figures show. The drop-off can be traced to teens’ increased involvement in school activities, volunteer work or gig jobs not tracked by Labor, as well as older and foreign workers taking jobs once filled by teens, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.
Teens’ resurgence in the job market is partly rooted in higher pay, with the average national wage for 15- to 19year-olds projected to reach $14.56 per hour this summer, up 9% from a year ago, says Pardue, citing figures from Gusto’s small-business clients.