STUDENTS FIND SUMMER JOBS FASTER
Post-recession, job openings in tech, food, and retail swell alongside the temperatures
“I literally just woke up and said, ‘Hey, maybe I just wanna apply for Great America just ’cause.’ ”
Students and young people looking for summer jobs in retail, food service and amusement parks are finding work faster than their peers.
Less than a decade ago, as the country was in the midst of the great recession, unemployment was high and there was fierce competition for job openings in tech as well as the food and retail industries. Young people had to compete with more experienced workers for summer jobs.
But with the national unemployment rate at 3.8 percent as of May and Bay Area counties’ unemployment rates even lower at 2.4 percent in Santa Clara County, 2 percent in San Mateo County, 2.7 percent in Alameda County and 2.8 percent in Contra Costa County as of April, employers hire from a smaller pool of potential workers.
“When the job market is tight like it is now, job searches are much quicker,” said Paul Oyer, a labor economist and professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
The unemployment rate for 16 to 19-year- olds in California has decreased from 34.4 percent in 2010 to 17.7 percent in 2017, according to the Department of Labor. For 20 to 24-year-old Californians, it has dropped from 19 percent in 2010 to 7.8 percent in the same timeframe.
With higher skilled workers back in their jobs and finding more job opportunities, Oyer said employers are more likely to fill
— Crystal Martinez
retail and food service jobs with people with less work experience and education. That benefits students.
“If you’re a retail store along University Avenue in Palo Alto right now, a 17-year-old with no work experience looks pretty good to you because the person will do the job for relatively little money,” Oyer said.
When Hayward resident Crystal Martinez, 20, decided to pick up a second job this summer, she applied to California’s Great America and one other park. The process didn’t take long.
“I literally just woke up and said, ‘ Hey, maybe I just wanna apply for Great America just ’cause,’ ” Martinez said. “As soon as I applied, like, two, three hours later I got a call back. They gave me the days for when to come in for an interview and I came in the next day.”
A week after the interview, she attended an orientation and got the job. According to Great America’s human resources, her experience is common for applicants as young as 15. About half of the 3,000 seasonal associates— 2,500 of which work during the summer— are under age 18. Its percentage of associates under 18 has also increased in recent years.
Less competition may also help college students find employment while they live at home for the summer. At New Concept Staffing, a Walnut Creek employment agency, staff work with a lot of students looking to earn money for school during break.
Executive Recruiter Marci Shackleton, who’s worked with the agency for 30 years, said young adults are able to pick up temporary or part-time jobs that more experienced workers aren’t interested in right now.
“I just placed a young woman this morning who worked with me last summer,” Shackleton said. “She just got home, she emailed me and said, ‘ I’m home and I’d like to do some work for the next three or four months. Can you reactivate me?’’”
Across the bay with 20 years of experience, Laney Nott, a Strategic Part- ner Owner at the employment agency PrideStaff in San Jose, said the number of summer jobs—from labor, events, to office jobs— in Santa Clara County has been increasing since the economy turned around in 2010.
“We take people through an application process and an interview process and sometimes we’re able to place people same day or within a couple days,” Nott said. “We keep them busy sometimes for a few weeks, sometimes for the entire duration of the summer.”
Regional Vice President for the staffing firm Robert Half in the San Francisco area, Ireneo Mendoza, oversees offices in San Jose, San Mateo, Palo Alto and Santa Clara. She’s worked for the firm for 17 years and said she sees a higher demand for entry level professional workers, even temporary projects 18-year- olds can do.
“The market is so hot in the Bay Area right now that they are also in demand for entry level staff to help with projects such as data entry, excel, analysis, customer service, etc,” Mendoza said. “We have also seen demand for entry level employees covering vacation coverages at the front desk, customer care and other operational positions.”
Los Gatos resident and Vanderbuilt University biological sciences senior Claire Barton, 21, wanted to spend part of her threemonth summer working. She started her summer job search on the neighborhood social network NextDoor, Craigslist, and Care.com, a site for coordinating caregiving. Now she also uses Bambino, a babysitting app, to connect with parents and make money between her other commitments.
Although gig economy or online sharing economy employers such as Uber and Lyft weren’t popular in 2010, Oyer said they make up a small part of the overall employment of 16 to 24-year- olds. Drivers of Uber and Lyft must be at least 21 and have a car, for example. Rover dog walkers or sitters must be at least 18.
“For a long time before internet, kids in the neighborhood have been walking people’s dogs,” Oyer said. “That stuff is a little bit more likely to get mediated through apps now, but not a lot more likely.”