Teens were expected to have a hard time finding work during the summer of 2008. As the forces of economic downturn rippled widely across the United States, the job market was shaping up as the weakest in more than half a century for teenagers looking for summer work.
As older people stayed in the work force longer, and as experienced workers lost jobs at factories and offices, settling for lower-paying work in restaurants and retail, some teenagers were squeezed out.
Little more than one-third of the 16- to 19-year-olds in the United States were likely to be employed, the smallest share since the government began tracking teenage work in 1948.
The rates among minority young people have been particularly low, with only 21 percent of African Americans and 31 percent of Hispanics from the ages of 16 to 19 employed last summer, according to the Labor Department.
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Do teenagers get jobs mostly because they want to, or because they have to? What are the long-term benefits and downfalls of starting to work at a young age? If a teenager has trouble finding a job, what other sorts of activities might they participate in to boost their skills, discipline and resumes?
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