Summer jobs are available, but will teens opt to work?

On windows at fastfood restaurants and grocery stores, on bulletin boards in front of community swimming pools, and on signs at many intersections —seemingly everybody is looking to hire teenagers for the summer.

With the hiring season for summer jobs well underway, experts say teens who want to work once school is out should be able to land a job, at least for now. That’s especially the case at businesses popular for teen workers, such as food service, lawn care, recreation, and entertainment.

As an added incentive, many employers have boosted wages for workers ages 16 to 24 by an average of 10% through the first quarter of 2022 compared to a year ago, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But a “perfect storm of current events” might keep many teens out of the summer labor pool, according to the Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. job placement and executive search firm that annually produces a survey on the summer job outlook for teens.

The perfect storm? Rising gasoline prices that will bite into teens’ takehome pay, supply chain disruptions that could keep hiring down, rising inflation that could dampen consumer spending and reduce hiring, worries about the war in the Ukraine and what’s happening in the world, and the strain on teens’ mental health caused by the isolating factors from the pandemic.

On that last point, a new study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found 44% of teens experiencing persistent thoughts of sadness or hopelessness, up from 26% in 2009. The numbers were even higher for girls and LGBTQ+ youth.

“The most immediate concern for teens is their mental health,” said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president at the job placement firm. Combine that with the other concerns and “teens may not only opt out of work, but the jobs they would take might dry up,” he noted in the report.

Challenger said summer jobs could certainly boost the mental well-being of teen workers. However, just like adults, he added, it “depends on the culture or the organization.”

With so much uncertainty in the world today, Challenger, Gray said making hiring predictions is difficult. Last year, the company forecast a blowout summer of 2 million teens being hired. The actual number was 1.3 million.

For this summer, Challenger, Gray is forecasting 1.3 million teen hiring, about even with 2021, but well below the record 2.2 million high school and college-age kids added for the summer of 2020. Of course, the survey doesn’t consider the many kids who will also land jobs baby-sitting, lawn mowing, car washing, and pet sitting.

What can parents do to nudge their teen into the employment line? Here are some do’s and don’ts from Andrew Challenger:

Do’s

• Help craft your teen’s resume. Explain what types of work, school experience, and extra-curriculars should be included, and how to articulate success stories and accomplishments during a job interview.

• Keep your eyes peeled for help wanted signs or a job advertisements. Take down the useful information or snag a photo and send it to your teen. In addition, introduce your teen to your network of friends, who may have positions available or know people who do.

• Practice interviewing. Work on answers that showcase accomplishments, experience, and enthusiasm, such as how your child won a college scholarship. Then take a turn as the interviewer, so your teen can practice answering questions.

Dont’s

• Giving advice is one thing, but don’t fill out the job application for your son or daughter, and don’t write the resume.

• Don’t go to the teen’s interview. Challenger said hiring managers have reported parents arriving with their teens to the actual interviews, even interrupting their teens to give answers. “This will only suggest that the teen cannot work individually or self-start,” Challenger said.

• Don’t berate your teen if they don’t land the job. Instead, treat the disappointment as an opportunity to talk about the workplace, and earning a living.