Teen job scene ?dismal?
Employment rates across the nation are expected to reach record lows this summer, as the recession keeps many high school and college students stuck without their usual minimum-wage summer job. Last year in Massachusetts the teen employment rate was at 38%, this year experts predict it could go as low as 30%. Although many large companies are continuing to hire teen workers, small and medium-sized businesses have felt forced to cut back summer hires or minimum wage positions, to save money or full-time employees. In many cases, such minimum-pay jobs are even being sought by adults, who have lost their jobs, or taken a pay cut, and are desperate to earn more. In Massachusetts, and several other states, federally-backed municipal or non-profit jobs might be teens? best bets, though even these too are more scarce this summer than usual.
See "Teen job scene ?dismal?", Jay Fitzgerald, Boston Herald, May 17, 2009