Summer jobs feel the heat
Competition, changing habits hurt youth employment prospects
Teenagers looking to make some extra cash during their summer break may find it harder to lock down a seasonal gig.
The retail industry has historically helped fuel seasonal employment for young people, but recent shifts in the once- abundant job sector have led to a downturn of available positions. The summer job market for teens nationwide has yet to return to its pre- recession form following a nosedive in 2010, according to research conducted by the Pew Research Center, and Connecticut has proven no exception.
Second only to the accommodations and food service sector, retail has been a go- to for teen job hunters, accounting for almost a quarter of the job market last year. But as more people opt to do their shopping online, they contribute to the sector’s shift and decline in brick- andmortar jobs.
“Retail is still a large sector, but in terms of a change in jobs, we are seeing that change happening,” said state Department of Labor economist Patrick Flaherty.
“Retail is still a large sector, but in terms of a change in jobs, we are seeing that change happening.” Patrick Flaherty, Connecticut Department of Labor economist
Changing times
The Conference Board Help Wanted Online Data Series, which tracks labor demand, reported retail job ads in the state are down more than 16 percent this year.
Like the rest of the nation, Connecticut has witnessed the drop in retail employment while there has been an increase in warehousing and transportation jobs, which tend to pay better but are not always ideal for 16- year- olds looking for temporary positions.
“( They’re) not necessarily consistent with the type of jobs that teenagers would get in the summer, which tend to be more temporary, more in tune with the schedule a teenager might have,” Flaherty said.
Demographic changes in the workforce are also partially to blame. Teens looking for work in the remaining retail jobs find they are competing with baby boomers who, rather than retiring, are
working longer.
“They don’t necessarily retire,” Flaherty said. “They age into that age group, but they don’t necessarily stop working. They may trade the job that they had as a career to a more temporary part- time job, but older folks are working longer than they have been in the past, and there are more of them, so you just have a demographic change.”
As employers look for workers who want more than seasonal positions, teens are edged out of the picture, Flaherty said.
The intern factor
Young workers also have to compete with growing number of college students looking for internships during the summer, said professor Kwamie Dunbar, assistant dean at the Jack Welch College of Business at Sacred Heart University.
“It creates much more competition in the field of available opportunities and it limits the number of positions available for high school teens,” he said.
That is also true in the hotel and resort management industry, part of the growing accommodation and food service sector.
“There is not an infinite amount of entry- level positions, because bear in mind that an incoming freshman is essentially a high school senior just leaving high school without any real work experience,” he said.
A more competitive landscape is not solely to blame for the lagging number of teens working, however. Lower numbers of teens are looking to work over the summer due in part to changing preferences. Since the recession, Flaherty said more teens have opted to take on other activities during the summer to add to their resumes for college admission
“There just doesn’t seem to be quite the ( interest),” Flaherty said.
Youth programs
While the number of working teens is lower, there remain plenty of interested candidates, and programs throughout Fairfield County are trying to meet the demand for work.
Summer youth programs throughout southwestern Connecticut are regularly bombarded with hundreds of applications for spaces that are often limited in number due in large part to funding.
“We always get more applications than we can fill, which doesn’t always work,” said Darlene Young, program coordinator for the Mayor’s Summer Youth Plan in Norwalk. “We struggle with that and that’s a yearly situation for us in Norwalk.”
In the past, the Norwalk’s program received more than 500 applications, while this year is not far off with 430. Due to funding limits, the program was only able to employ 142 applicants.
Reliant on city funding, grants and contributions from the business and church sector, city- operated youth employment programs are facing a constant struggle. Organizations that receive state funding face similar struggles.
Tom Long, vice president of The Workplace in Bridgeport, said funding for the organization’s summer youth program is back up after a drop last year, though there are fewer spots on offer.
The Workplace had more than 800 applications for 240 spots available for its Summer Earn and Learn youth employment program, he said. The seven- week program provides youth throughout southwestern Connecticut with opportunities in the private, nonprofit and government sectors.
“For many of them, it’s the first meaningful paid work experience that they will hold,” Long said
The Mayor’s Summer Youth Initiative in Bridgeport has also felt the burden with approximately 250 applicants for 80 positions.
“With less funding available over the past few years and more and more youth looking for a summer job experience, it has become increasingly challenging for our office to meet the need,” said Tammy Papa, director of youth services.