Summer Jobs

**Brian Lehrer** (0:08)
Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and talking about low wage work, or in most cases, low wage work. We're gonna end today with a call in for teenagers who have looked for a summer job for this summer. Did you find one, given the current job market? Or if you're a parent of a teenager who's been looking for a summer job, did your teenager find one? And if so, what? And what have you gone through looking for a job in this job market? 212-433-WNYC, this is on summer youth employment, teen jobs. If you're the teenager, did you find a job? Maybe you didn't if you're listening to the show right now, 13 minutes before 12 o'clock in the morning. Or if you're a parent of a teenager, how did that go? And do you think it was different than recent years, where maybe the job market, the entry level job market in particular wasn't so tight? 212433, WNYC 2124339692
And some context is that most teens used to work summer jobs, but things have changed. It's not just that jobs are harder to find. It's that in the 1980s, according to the Public Radio Marketplace, which did a thing on this, two out of three US teenagers had paying jobs over the summer. Now it's only about one in three. And it's not just because teenagers don't want to work during the out of school time, you know, the Gen Z is lazy myth. A lot of them really, really do. Economists say that employers are increasingly unwilling to hire younger workers. And that teens are increasingly competing with older workers, including those over 65 Many businesses say they can't afford to hire more staff, period. By the way, the over 65s is another thing that we didn't get to with Ann Larson in her book. She documented so many older workers who've worked many years at supermarkets who just keep working at these jobs that they would rather retire from, because they can't afford to retire. But this year, the summer jobs market for teens is especially rocky from all the reporting we've seen. Nationally, youth employment for this summer is expected to hit an 80-year low, according to Newsday. So help us report this story. If you're a teenager and you have a summer job, maybe you work the night shift, so you're available to call in right now. What was it like or what was it like looking for that job? Or if you can't find a job, call and tell us what you've been applying for, what kinds of responses, if any, you've been getting. Same thing if you're the parent of a teen, help us report the story of this year's summer teenage job market 212-433-WNYC. What's the state of summer employment for teens in your family's personal experience this year?
212-433-WNYC 212-433-9692.
And for that matter, if you're an employer, maybe you have an opening right now for one of the classic summer teenage jobs, ice cream scoopers. I did that when I was a teenager. Lifeguards, bussers, cashiers, any other seasonal jobs a teenager could do. And is it different? Is there this trickle down from AI? You know, that's one of the theories, right? That entry level jobs for college graduates are harder to find this year than in many years past because AI is taking a lot of entry level jobs. Well, what are those college grads doing? That's trickling down to them taking a lot of service jobs that might otherwise be teenage summer jobs. Have you had this experience as a roadblock to finding employment for yourself or the teenager in your family?
212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.
And just as a tack on, we'll probably do this as a separate call-in on another day. Did you see the piece in the cut with the headline, Every Teen Should Work in the Service Industry? Compelling case from Katharine Gieser-Morton, who says, we try to model respectful behavior for our kids and we try to teach them to be responsible for their actions. Well, she's arguing that teenagers shouldn't just have privileged, professional class, internships. Every teenager should work a service industry job for a while. So parents, anyone else, you can agree or disagree with that. And tell us about your experience for yourself as a teenager or for the teen in your family with a summer teen employment market right now, 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.
Call or text and we'll take your stories right after this.
Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now to your stories involving the teenage summer job market. This year, I'm gonna start with Margo in Portland, Oregon. Margo, you're on WNYC. Hello from New York.

**Margo** (5:50)
Good morning from Portland, Oregon.

**Brian Lehrer** (5:52)