John Boyle
ASHEVILLE – Some teenagers looking for summer jobs this year might run into a wall instead of a paycheck.
“I looked all last summer and wasn’t able to find a job,” said Lindsey Bridges, an 18-year-old Asheville High School senior. “This year I’ve had three interviews. With all three, it turned out that they wanted help, but they wanted year-round employees.”
The summer job outlook for teenagers is fairly grim, according to a group of scholars at the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston, with federal inattention to youth jobs programs partly to blame. The slumping economy, high gas prices and lagging consumer spending are contributing to employers’ reluctance to hire.
The article’s title pretty well sums it up: “The Continued Collapse of the Nation’s Teen Job Market and the Dismal outlook for the 2008 Summer Labor Market for Teens: Does Anybody Care?” The center said three consecutive losses in teen employment in January through March indicate a rough summer ahead.
“The monthly average teen employment rate for the January-March period of this year was only 33.5 percent, the lowest ever recorded since 1948,” they wrote. “Our predicted summer teen employment rate for this year is only 34.2 percent, a rate below the historical low experienced last summer and 11 percentage points below the summer employment rate of 2000.”
The scholars note that summer jobs are crucial for youths not just because they offer spending money and college savings. Less work experience translates into lower earnings in the future, and disadvantaged teens who work in high school are more likely to remain in school than their peers.
Bridges, who will attend N.C. State University this fall, hopes to earn money to put toward tuition and room and board, which will surpass $15,000 a year.
“I’m definitely going to keep looking,” she said.
Some already working
Several of her fellow students already have jobs, which they will continue working through the summer. Fellow senior Torre White, 17, actually plans to work two jobs — one with the city of Asheville’s Parks & Recreation Department and another at Kilwin’s sweets shop downtown.
“A lot of people are having a hard time finding a job, but I think it’s not as hard for seniors,” White said, noting that many jobs have restrictions on workers younger than 18, though employers can hire those 16 and older.
She’s saving most of her earnings for Gardner-Webb University, which she’ll attend this fall.
In the mountains, the tourism industry provides some insulation from national woes, although teenagers might find that some restaurants, hotels and shops aren’t hiring as fervently as in years past.
Marla Tambellini, assistant vice president with the Asheville Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the market right now is “soft.” Hotel room sales for March were about even with last year, and April sales were down about 4.7 percent.
“Looking forward to the next fiscal year, we have recalculated our forecast for the next couple of months as being flat for hotel sales compared to next year,” Tambellini said. “There is some feeling that things will pick up in July.”
Consumer confidence has waned as people struggle to cover their bills and buy gasoline, she said. But jobs are out there for teens and college students, Tambellini said.
At Fuddrucker’s hamburger restaurant in North Asheville, manager Brandon Duckett said they’re looking for teenage employees.
“We definitely can use them,” he said. “We’ve already started looking. Our busier time is during the summer, so we try to bump it up a little bit during summer. But we are looking for employees who will hang with us when school back.”
Leicester resident Martin McEndarfer-Lehto, 17, works in the bakery at Fuddrucker’s, but he’s trying to find a job closer to home, mainly to save on gas. The Asheville High senior also wouldn’t mind making more money and has a line on a metal working job through a friend’s father. He hasn’t noticed fellow students struggling to find work for the summer.
“A lot of places like Ingles and movies theaters, it seems like they’re always hiring,” he said.
Ingles spokesman Ron Freeman said the 197-store chain typically employs about 4,000 high school age workers, a number than usually increases about 7 percent in the summer. Sales remain strong, and the chain won’t slow hiring this summer.
Unemployment is up
The economy is working against teens this summer, as are soaring gas prices that have consumers tightening their budgets, according to Rick Elingburg, manager of the N.C. Employment Security Commission office in Asheville, which covers Buncombe, Madison and Yancey counties. He said his office typically gets requests during the spring for high school and college students to fill positions in retail, hospitality, construction and occasionally manufacturing.
“It has been slower this spring than in years past,” Elingburg said. “The number of requests has been considerably less than in the past.”
Unemployment in that three-county area stood at 4.1 percent through April, up from a year ago when it was 3.3 percent. Gas prices in particular may be hurting the hospitality and restaurant industries, he said.
Tres Hundertmark, the executive chef at the Lobster Trap restaurant in downtown Asheville and vice president of the 60-member Asheville Independent Restaurant Association, said most restaurants are still expecting a solid tourism season. The Lobster Trap is staffing at the same level as last year and will employ two or three students, typically one in the kitchen and two as hostesses or servers.
“I have not heard of anybody talking about cutting back their labor at all,” Hundertmark said. “Some places may be a little slower to boost it up for the tourist season, but for the most part most folks are where they expect to be.”
Rebekah Owens, an 18-year-old Asheville High senior, expects to be at Kohl’s department store all summer. She’s worked there almost a year and has become a register supervisor. This summer she expects to work 25 to 33 hours a week and will sock money away for college at Mars Hill this fall and other expenses.
“There’s a lot of stuff out there,” she said, referring to jobs. “It might not be exactly what you want to do, but it’s a job.”
Tips for getting a summer job
• Be persistent. Keep sending in job applications and asking for interviews, even if you get discouraged.
• Network. Ask friends, family members and people you attend church with if they know of job openings.
• Have your résumé and cover letter ready. Fill out applications neatly and completely.
• Always be polite when talking with potential employers. Watch your language and what you talk about. Avoid cursing and avoid talking about politics or religion. Speak well of yourself.
• Dress appropriately for the work environment. See what workers are wearing and dress accordingly. When in doubt, dress conservatively. Avoid clothing that is too tight, too short, too baggy or that has slogans that could be offensive.
• Take stock of the locality where you are working. If you are in a conservative area, limit jewelry, especially piercings, necklaces and rings.
