As the pandemic recedes and more Americans travel, attend ball games and resume other summer rituals, employers are turning to their secret weapon to meet surging demand: teenagers. I rely on you.
Teenagers are expected to make up nearly one in five new hires this summer, according to data provided exclusively to USA TODAY. Gusta payroll process for small businesses.
While many American adults who were out of work due to the pandemic have returned to the workforce, teens are returning more quickly, especially for summer jobs. Many are being lured by huge salary increases and a desire to move out of their homes after years of prolonged distance learning and other pandemic-related restrictions, experts say.
“Despite the overall economic slowdown, the teens[job]market is still very strong,” said Luke Perdue, an economist at Gusto.
Restaurants, amusement parks, hotels, malls and other businesses are open longer, serving consumers faster and better, as pandemic-related labor shortages improve in many areas but persist. A strong teenage workforce is helping to make this possible. It also supports an economy that most forecasters believe will slip into recession later this year.
Gast said young people aged 15 to 19 are expected to make up 18% of total summer employment, up from just 2% in 2019 before the pandemic began. One reason is that as Americans step up their summer activities, jobs in restaurants, hotels, amusement parks, and stores have increased disproportionately. But even within that “personal services” category, teens will make up 26% of total employment, up from 21% a year ago, Gast said.
More and more teens are being recruited by employers, largely because more teens are looking for work.
What Percentage of Teens Have a Job?
Nearly 37% of 16- to 19-year-olds were working or looking for work last year, the highest since 2009, according to Labor Department data. Their participation peaked at almost 47% last July and is likely to surpass that this summer, with participation so far in 2023 already surpassing last year’s pace.
This trend is partly reversing the long-term decline in teenage employment. The percentage of teens working or looking for work fell from 58% in 1979 to about 35% in 2020, according to Labor Department statistics. According to the paper, the decline is due to an increase in teens’ participation in school activities, volunteer activities and gig jobs that Labor has not been aware of, as well as older adults and foreign workers taking on jobs once held by teens. It is said that there is something. Human Resource Management Society.
How much money does the average teen make?
The resurgence in the teen job market is partly rooted in higher wages, with the national average wage expected to reach $14.56 for 15- to 19-year-olds this summer, up 9% year-on-year. , Pardue said, citing figures. Hear from Gusto’s small business customers.
At the same time, some employers prefer to hire teenagers during the current high inflation, he said. Because they will be paid less than young people aged 25 to 54, who will be earning an average of $23 an hour this summer. , an increase of 2% from last year.
Table 301 in Greenville, South Carolina, has hired 32 high school and college students this summer to work at five downtown restaurants, quick-service eateries and catering operations, said CEO Karl Sobosinski. I’m here. The company is at capacity, so most of the remaining 20 applicants are likely to be turned down.
Last summer, the company saw a drastic drop in applicant numbers, admitting just 19 students and 5% understaffed. The restaurant should have opened at 5:30 p.m. instead of 5 p.m. and closed at 9:30 p.m. instead of 10 p.m., Sobosinski said.
He attributes this year’s influx of teen job seekers to an increase in hourly wages from $10 to $12 last summer, and from $4.25 to $7 for tipped positions. . That’s a healthy wage in a low-cost state where the minimum wage still matches the federal wage floor of $7.25 an hour.
“15- and 16-year-olds are making $200 to $400 a week, mostly in part-time jobs, which is a lot for someone that age, and they’re talking to each other.” says Sobotinski.
Are more people entering the labor force?
yes. The participation rate of prime-age workers rose to just over 83% in May, up from 83% before the pandemic. But Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of outplacement firm Challenger Gray and Christmas, said many restaurant, hotel and other leisure-service workers face a serious health crisis. He left the industry in search of a more stable job and has not returned. As such, teens have become a more coveted workforce.
Sobosinski said his company’s summer job was canceled this year as more people re-entered the full-time workforce as COVID-19 eased and they were unable to take temporary summer jobs. Fewer adults are applying for .
Teens, on the other hand, are itching to work and hang out with their peers after being homebound for so long due to a health crisis, Perdue said.
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At the Art Factory in Midlothian, Virginia, owner Tal Thompson hires 18 teenagers for the summer, and 28 of the 46 employees are teenagers. The business has an art studio and cafe, and also hosts parties, body his painting sessions, and summer camps.
About 40 teens are looking for summer jobs this year, nearly double the number of applicants last year.
“They just finished going home,” Thompson says.
She welcomes the growing interest. “She doesn’t have to post work,” she says. “Her resume is always on her desk.”
Mackenzie Ewing, 17, is a party organizer and camp counselor who works 15 to 20 hours a week and makes $11 an hour. She’s taking home the same weekly totals she earned as a Kohl’s retail employee last summer, but she’s happier and less stressed.
“I thought I needed money to go to college,” she says.
