What happened to teen summer jobs? Experts examine why young workforce is dwindling

[pstokely]

http://fox4kc.com/2018/05/14/what-happened-to-teen-summer-jobs-experts-examine-why-young-workforce-is-dwindling/
"Some of the major reasons why teens are working less now than they used to: Adults and immigrant labor have replaced them in jobs that usually went to teens, such as fast food, landscaping, etc.; parents, through a mixture of coddling and over-scheduling, have made it nearly impossible for teens to have time for a part-time job; and social media and smartphones have occupied so much prime real estate in young people’s attention spans that many confess they’re seldom bored or compelled to find a job to fill their spare time."

[Rhiannon12866]

1. Interesting article, I had no idea!

I had a summer job at an amusement park, probably my favorite job ever - and my Dad wouldn't let me watch TV until I got one. I started out as Cinderella (pumpkin coach and all!), operated swan boats, then graduated to driving the train that went through the park, I loved it. My co-workers in the rides department were either kids my age or retired folks. That amusement park is still there, bigger and better than ever. I wonder if the workforce has changed?

[dawg day]

4. Employers used to do this almost out of the goodness of their hearts, I think-

Teens aren't great employees, because their hours are restricted, they are usually seasonal, and might not yet have evolved a great work ethic. (I was a teen employee. <G&gt If there are adults applying for the jobs (and there are-- most of the employees at my local fast food stores are adults these days), employers concerned a lot with the bottom line would probably hire them.

The first job is a great lesson for most of us, and it's important to society to have a bridge from school to work. But employers can't be blamed for thinking beyond that social good to their own good and the good of their customers.

Now if employers could be forced to pay a higher minimum wage for workers.... well, that would reward the adult workers for their better performance and permanence.

[Rhiannon12866]

5. Well, the park is seasonal, so it coincided with school vacations

And the workers had to be at least 18 - the food concessions sold beer and when they cracked down on that, they got switched to rides, and then the ride operators, because we were dealing with big machines, had to be 18 too. I loved driving the train, it went through the "jungle" (forest) and I fussed over it to keep it running and shining. My "partner" on the train was a 68-year-old man and quite a fussbudget. We got along just fine. My boss liked me, used to call my mother to find out when I was going to be home from school, because he said I was "reliable." I worked there for six summers. And I hate to tell you what minimum wage was back then, but we were grateful for it.

[BigmanPigman]

2. A lot of them have to do stuff that is required prep for their college

in the Fall. This is new from when I went to college. They have to volunteer or intern or take classes and that makes them unable to get full time Summer employment. I was watching an interview with a person who had a shop on a busy boardwalk at the shore and he was saying it is hard to attract young people in the Summer for these reasons. He also said that not many want to take the job seriously and if he does hire them they often flake out and are irresponsible.

[JI7]

3. Summer School is probably more common these days than some generations back

[colorado_ufo]

6. To get a summer job you need to have transportation to get there.

Used to take me an hour by bus to get anywhere in the city and an hour back home, plus no one seemed to want to hire you for just 3 months. And that was 50 years ago! I asked my best friend how she got a summer job, and she said she lied about her age for starters and that the job would just be for a summer. I was taught not to lie, and I guess I just lost out.

Earning a few extra bucks can be great, but so can doing additional reading and studying during summer to get you ahead in your grades in the fall. It might even get you a scholarship!

[Hortensis]

7. HUGELY different Dept of Labor take from this Fox station's:

In our nation’s changing economy, the pull of education is a key factor in how teens are fitting into the labor force. Back in 1979, about 58 percent of teens (16-19) were in the labor force, but by 2000, only 52 percent were. By 2011, after the recession, about 34 percent of teens were in the labor force. What’s behind this change? Most teens who do not participate in the labor force cite school as the reason.

Consider these factors:

Higher attendance: In 2015, about 3 in 4 teens were enrolled in school. This proportion has trended up from about 60 percent in 1985, which is the first year data are available.

Time-consuming classes: After sleeping, school activities take up more time than anything else in a teenager’s week day. And high school coursework has become more strenuous. High schoolers today are taking tougher and more advanced courses, including those specifically designed for college preparation and credit. And most start college the fall after graduating from high school. In October 2015, about 70 percent of recent high school graduates were enrolled in college, compared with less than half of recent graduates in October 1959.

More summer students: Summer has always been the most common time for teens to work, but fewer teens are holding summer jobs: about 4 in 10 teens were in the labor force last July, compared with about 7 in 10 in July 1978. At the same time, school attendance in summer is on the rise. The proportion of teens enrolled in July 2016 (42 percent) was more than four times higher than in July 1985.

Higher education costs: College tuition costs have risen dramatically in real (inflation-adjusted) terms, so a part-time job is generally not sufficient to cover costs. Teens enrolled in college therefore are more likely to cover costs through loans and grants: 84 percent of full-time undergraduates received financial aid in 2011-12, compared with 58 percent in 1992-93.

QUESTION: Why would Fox want to ignore this huge factor of education to portray fewer kids working as resulting only from immigrant labor, parental coddling, and laying around playing video games? Sure, those probably play a role for some, but surely they might at least have mentioned that 15% fewer are dropping out of high school and that 4 times more kids are actually busy in school in the summer? Fox did mention parental "overscheduling" of kids' time as a factor, and that may be where this huge shift from low-pay jobs to education is tucked.

Btw, interesting topic, PStokley. Thanks for bringing it up. It just happens to offer the additional bonus of comparing the negative viewpoint this Fox station is offering with the far more positive reality of the Department of Labor's.

The lower graph indicates this trend away from summer jobs is expected to continue dramatically. Encouraging as parents and kids themselves understand they need to continue education if they're not to fall off the cliff into working class jobs. Working in summer must already seem like something of a "loser" move for too many, like heading for the crab processing factory jobs this administration clearly expects Maryland grads to replace immigrant workers in.

[genxlib]

11. My personal experience

Is that this is the case for my Daughter. She is taking a crazy academic load that would make working impossible. I was considered a pretty advanced student in my day in the mid-80s but she is on track to surpass that as a Junior.

I would love for her to have the experience a job would give her but it just isn't practical. I am just happy she is motivated and working hard at school.

[Hortensis]

13. You guys sound exactly like what's described.

Our kids are very committed to their children's educations. Our grandchildren all expect to go to college, no ifs, just where and what. And their academic years in two southern states are longer, loads heavier, and requirements for compliance much stricter than 30 years ago.

In fact, as a strongly education-committed grandparent, I now deplore the effect very strictly imposed school district rules have on family life and lately have even begun to worry about the imposition of strict obedience on families as a possible tool for training people to accept more fascistic governance. Our DIL was sworn in as a U.S. citizen last week (she's dual Danish-U.S. now). She's volunteered at her kids' schools for years, and the current one couldn't even permit absences to attend the ceremony. Her children were there anyway, of course.

But that's another subject. Education good!

[DFW]

8. There was always some summer work I could find as a teen, but how log ago was that?

I'm talking late sixties. Ancient history.

These days, my wife and I usually go to the States to Truro, on the outer part of Cape Cod (away from the masses). Most of the restaurants and supermarkets there (all two of them) hire students from Eastern Europe and the Middle East for the menial jobs. Waiting on tables, cashiers or behind the meat/fish counters, etc. They are usually worked to the bone with long hours at low wages and get only one day off a week, but most of them would never have been able to afford a trip to the States at all, so they jump at the chance. I don't know if American kids would be willing to work under those conditions.

One summer when I was in my teens, I worked as what was officially designated as a "laborer" at the U.S. Geological Survey's map warehouse in Alexandria, VA. Labor is what it was, alright. It involved lugging packages of 500 huge newly printed maps from one part of the warehouse to the other. I don't know what they used to make the ink, but it smelled horrible, and we were all often ill from the fumes. The pay justified (for a teen) the work--although, now knowing about all the cancer in my family, I don't know if I would be as accepting of having to breathe in those fumes for 10 weeks straight as I was 50 years ago.

[Xipe Totec]

9. My summer job was roustabout on a drilling rig (70's). nt

[HockeyMom]

10. My daughter worked the school's Summer Camp

for Special Ed kids in Pre-K and Kindergarten. She was 15, Special Ed HS student herself, and had attended the camp when she was younger. You might say it was sort of a mentoring program for the little ones. It was only open to Special Ed HS students and paid $8/hour back in 1999. The program involved both classroom work and outside activities with occasional local trips to the community pool, petting zoo, etc. The school bus took them to those activities.

We did a carpool to get them there and back. If a Teacher lived near by, sometimes they would drive them.

[Tom Rinaldo]

12. What happened to Republican excuses that a low minimum wage is needed so teens can get summer jobs?

That has already been a bogus argument for decades. But it gets used every time an effort is made to raise the minimum wage.

[TreasonousBastard]

14. Around here we seem to have a lack of kids, and even fewer who care to work...

or have the time.

When I was a kid, there was the Oyster Factory where many kids spent their summers shucking local oysters. The oysters and the factory are long gone. There are some local places, like Magic Fountain ice cream, and the local farm stands where they still have a supply of kids to work, but they are drying up. As are the kids-- white, middle class families with kids are disappearing.

Farms here are folding and selling for a lot of reasons (not the least of which is what they can sell the land for) but a more interesting one is that the farmers' kids no longer want to get into the business. Farming is hard work for sometimes minimal return and the kids would rather do something else.

One restaurant owner gave a talk about how difficult it was to find workers. Hispanics are being chased out, local kids don't want to slice carrots or wash dishes, and he's been lucky to get foreign exchange students to wait tables during the summer.

[crazycatlady]

15. I've worked (as a young adult) at a few employers that would just not hire teens (under 18)

And it was not like the job was dangerous, it was that they simply didn't want to deal with the extra paperwork that came to hiring minors.

This was a mall store best known for scented bath products.

I had my first job at 15 at a camp. They paid me half of minimum wage (the following summer, I made minimum wage due to my age). I also worked in a movie theater in HS (quit at 17). If you stayed past your 18th birthday, you'd automatically be on all the midnight shows.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

16. Transportation is the big thing where I live

Doesn't make much sense for the teens to work until they have their driver's license. My son is 15, but he won't be working this summer. He'll be doing driver's ed instead. With the younger teens, you'll have to be driving them back and forth to work so much. Plus, those crap jobs they give to the teens have such random hours. Better off waiting until they can drive themselves. He can work after he gets his license, but getting the license is really important because not having one will definitely limit their opportunities.

[treestar]

17. The summer job thing is a mystery

how does the economy happen to create extra work on the summer?

Summer camp I can see. Lifeguarding (teachers used to do that to have income in the summer, so adults always competed).

Maybe tourism and traveling. Beaches would have more jobs. But if you don't live at the beach?

[exboyfil]

18. Payback for unskilled labor rate

does not justify extensive effort for a summer job. Both my daughters used the summer to take classes. While my oldest did have a few hours serving food at a retirement community, her big break was getting an internship in engineering after her high school graduation.

By taking summer classes and doing college level work while in high school, my oldest was able to finish her engineering degree in two years after high school graduation. No dorm room, no expensive board, and greatly reduced community college tuition and having several classes paid for by the high school. She has now worked two years professionally while her peers are just finishing college.

My youngest was even more extreme. She finished her B.S. in Nursing 15 months after high school graduation and has been started working as a RN 18 months after high school graduation. She lived at home for school (still is at home) and is banking big bucks towards her Nurse Practicioner degree.