Getting a summer job used to be a given for teenagers. Now, it has become a competitive task requiring much more than a desire to work.
Ambition, attitude and being trained in a set of skills can help, but employment experts said there is no guarantee of landing a gig.
Patrick Holwell, workforce economist with county career service Arapahoe/Douglas Works, said the job outlook for youth employment locally and elsewhere is dire.
“When we were kids, everyone had a job,” Holwell said. Not so today.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers show that, nationally, employment of youths ages 16 to 19 dropped from 51.7 percent in the summer of 2000 to 32.9 percent in 2009.
“If kids really want to get into the workforce, they’ve got to realize they’re in a deeply competitive situation,” he said.
Recession and high unemployment are factors, Holwell said, and some adult job-seekers are taking job opportunities from youth as they accept lower-level positions just to have a regular paycheck.
Baby boomers are having to stay in the workforce longer, some due to the impact of the recession, he said.
“Then you have all the rest of the people in the adult age groups,” Holwell said. “They’re competing nose-to-nose against 16-, 17-, 18- and 19-year-olds for the same job at McDonald’s, or retail and hospitality kinds of jobs — traditionally what youth end up with.”
In Jefferson County, Kris Kinzli, a Human Services spokesperson, said jobs are possible for those trained and motivated.
“They might come to our young adult job fair in March because there’s so many companies there,” she said.
Regina Hartley, a former teacher and owner of Edgewater Coffee Company said she found interns for her shop through Jeffco YouthWorks. She knows how tough it is — some customers use her computer to seek work, and one has been looking for two years. Older people, she said, are sometimes in service jobs formerly filled by youth.
Kelly Folks, talent development manager for Arapahoe/Douglas Works!, said her young clients often talk about how tough it is to get a job.In two main service areas, she said, the demand has more than doubled or nearly doubled in the past six years.
“They’re finding that they can’t walk into a McDonald’s in their shorts and T-shirt, fill out an application and expect to find a job,” she said. “If they walk into the McDonald’s with at least a tie on, they’re at least getting noticed and potentially getting an interview.”
Daniel Smith: 303-954-2671 or smithd@yourhub.com
