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It's hard work getting a summer job
Three O.C. teens navigate the tough summer job market.
By Molly Vorwerck
The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, CA), July 24, 2009
Flashback five years and it wouldn't be difficult to find a teenager working at a neighborhood coffee shop or bagging groceries at the local grocery store.
Not this summer.
The unemployment rate for youth ages 16 to 19 in California is the highest it's been in more than 25 years, said Anthony Nunes, a spokesman from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In June 2004, the unemployment rate for California teens was 17 percent; in June 2009, the unemployment rate was 24 percent.
No statistics are available for Orange County, but all over the country, the job search certainly isn't what it used to be. The only other time the unemployment rate for teens was this staggering was in 1983, which Nunes attributes to the stock market slump of the early 1980s.
It's not just the bad economy to blame for the lack of summer jobs for teens, says Christine Eastlick, a representative from Employment Policies Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C.
Eastlick insists that the high rate of nationwide unemployment for teens stems from a higher minimum wage. Since the minimum wage in many states is enough to 'sustain,' older, more experienced workers are willing to take jobs previously reserved for teenagers, and many employers are decreasing the amount of workers they can hire, she said.
She cites the increasing amount of both immigrant workers and older workers reentering the workforce as a threat to job availability for teens: 'Many immigrants work hard for lower wages, and often have certain skills many employers look for because they've had previous work experience.'
Youth employment and training programs in Orange County are getting an $8.8 million boost from the federal stimulus act. That helps, but a summer job these days is more than a rite-of-passage for many teens.
Kathy Du Vernet, director of the Youth Employment Services of the Harbor Area, has noticed a shift in her teenage clients' desires to get a job: 'There is a definite increase in the amount of kids who look for work because they need to help their families. Even as recently as two years ago the vast majority of teens we served just wanted a little extra spending money.'
While the program continues to find jobs for youth, statistically, 50 percent fewer teens found jobs this year than in 2008, she said.
Here are the stories of three Orange County teens and their summer job experience.
. . .
EDITOR'S NOTE: The latest CIS analysis of foreign and native unemployment is available online at: http://www.cis.org/FirstQuarter2009Unemployment
Three O.C. teens navigate the tough summer job market.
By Molly Vorwerck
The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, CA), July 24, 2009
Flashback five years and it wouldn't be difficult to find a teenager working at a neighborhood coffee shop or bagging groceries at the local grocery store.
Not this summer.
The unemployment rate for youth ages 16 to 19 in California is the highest it's been in more than 25 years, said Anthony Nunes, a spokesman from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In June 2004, the unemployment rate for California teens was 17 percent; in June 2009, the unemployment rate was 24 percent.
No statistics are available for Orange County, but all over the country, the job search certainly isn't what it used to be. The only other time the unemployment rate for teens was this staggering was in 1983, which Nunes attributes to the stock market slump of the early 1980s.
It's not just the bad economy to blame for the lack of summer jobs for teens, says Christine Eastlick, a representative from Employment Policies Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C.
Eastlick insists that the high rate of nationwide unemployment for teens stems from a higher minimum wage. Since the minimum wage in many states is enough to 'sustain,' older, more experienced workers are willing to take jobs previously reserved for teenagers, and many employers are decreasing the amount of workers they can hire, she said.
She cites the increasing amount of both immigrant workers and older workers reentering the workforce as a threat to job availability for teens: 'Many immigrants work hard for lower wages, and often have certain skills many employers look for because they've had previous work experience.'
Youth employment and training programs in Orange County are getting an $8.8 million boost from the federal stimulus act. That helps, but a summer job these days is more than a rite-of-passage for many teens.
Kathy Du Vernet, director of the Youth Employment Services of the Harbor Area, has noticed a shift in her teenage clients' desires to get a job: 'There is a definite increase in the amount of kids who look for work because they need to help their families. Even as recently as two years ago the vast majority of teens we served just wanted a little extra spending money.'
While the program continues to find jobs for youth, statistically, 50 percent fewer teens found jobs this year than in 2008, she said.
Here are the stories of three Orange County teens and their summer job experience.
. . .
EDITOR'S NOTE: The latest CIS analysis of foreign and native unemployment is available online at: http://www.cis.org/FirstQuarter2009Unemployment
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