Unemployment has touched white-collar, blue-collar, medical, education, lawyers and a slew of non-traditional types of careers that are not normally considered at-risk for layoffs across the United States. One such area that has received little attention is teenaged unemployment. The rates for teens out of work are staggering.
Teenaged Unemployment Rates
The unemployment rates for teenagers for the summer of 2011 are bigger than those for adults. For example, unemployment for teens, ages 16 to 19 years old, went up to 25.4 percent in August. For black teens, the rate jumped from 39.2 percent in July to 46.5 percent in August. The overall unemployment rate has been around 25 percent for the past three years. It is the worst rate since 1948. Previous years, the teen unemployment rate averaged between 13 and 15.8 percent between 2000 and 2007.
Long Term Effects of Teen Unemployment
Such high rates are damaging to teenagers both for financial reasons and for learning vital job skills. Summer jobs teach teens serious job skills such as dealing with customers and managers. Plus, reported research shows that adult workers who worked part time as a teenager have a greater potential to earn more as an adult than those who do not work as teenagers.
Why Teen Unemployment is on the Rise
There are several reasons why this age group has experienced severe job losses over the past few years. First, the minimum wage increased from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour in 2009. This one factor alone increased unemployment by 2.5 percent.
Secondly, many jobs such as retail cashiers, and sales associates have been replaced by technology. And, the high unemployment rates among adults have caused many out-of-work adults to take on the jobs that have been traditionally held by teenagers. Other factors for the trend include teenagers attending summer school and more high school graduates are enrolling in college.
Teens Can Expect to Learn Job Search Skills
Although the research is not actually in yet, teens searching for summer work over the past few years should be able to up their level of job search skills which, unfortunately, are needed these days to not just find the job, but get the job. The new job search mantra can easily be: Those that can do effective job searching may actually find some kind of work. And, those that can’t, keep searching, or not.
Resources:
Article: High teen unemployment cuts learning opportunities, Paul Davidson, USA Today, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2011.
