Teens hoping for summer cash will need to get creative this year or look extra hard, because traditional jobs are in short supply.
Montgomery County’s Let’s Get it Started Youth Job Expo on Saturday barely filled up with employers in time, said organizer Janelle Cauthen of Maryland Multicultural Youth Centers.
“We expect the employers who come to be ready to hire at least two employees,” Cauthen said, adding that many weren’t certain until the last minute that they could make an offer.
The county’s community pools hired 100 students at last year’s event. This year, they were expecting to offer only 20 slots, Cauthen said.
About 50 employers had signed on in time for the daylong event in Silver Spring, but organizers expected at least 2,000 youth, up from about 1,000 last year.
Teenagers take a disproportionate hit in the job market during economic downtimes, according to a recent report by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Boston’s Northeastern University.
Between October 2007 and November 2008, 16- to 19-year-olds saw a net decrease of more than 700,000 jobs nationwide, the report said.
“Employment of young workers under 30 fell by [1.4] million, accounting for 80 percent of the net decline in total civilian employment” in the same period, it said.
Despite the District’s summer job program embarrassment last year in which thousands of teens were left underemployed and underpaid, the city is again trying to solve the problem of widespread teen unemployment during the long summer months.
This year, nearly 20,000 youth have signed up at Summerjobs.dc.gov for employment at $6.55 per hour in fields from grounds maintenance to library science.
“We have enough jobs now to match those who’ve applied,” said Dy Brown, spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Employment Services. May 1 is the last day for teens to select their top five job categories before receiving their placement.
For other youth, job experts recommend amusement parks, golf courses, and the old standby, fast-food restaurants.
Golf caddies are back in demand as baby boomers value a healthy walk, experts say, and fast-food joints are booming as families opt for cheap meals in hard times.
