A hiring freeze has taken over the United States labor market, and experts say high school students are among those feeling the chill. The result is shaping up to be what some are now calling the worst summer job market for teenagers in decades. For many young people, the seasonal work that once felt almost guaranteed has become far harder to find. The squeeze is changing what a typical American summer looks like for those hoping to earn some money.
The jobs in question are the classic teenage gigs that have long marked the season. They range from scooping ice cream and babysitting to lifeguarding and bagging groceries at the local store. These roles have traditionally offered a first taste of work and a first paycheck for many teenagers. This year, however, those opportunities are proving harder to come by.
The numbers help illustrate just how sharp the shift has been. Two years ago, a little over one million teenagers held summer jobs across the country. This year, only around 790,000 teens between the ages of 16 and 19 are expected to have a job during May, June and July. That projection comes from the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas.
When asked what is driving the slump, high schoolers point to several pressures weighing on the economy. They blame rising inflation, higher oil prices and a generally sluggish hiring market. Together, those factors have made employers more cautious about taking on extra seasonal staff. The combination has left many teenagers competing for a shrinking pool of openings.
Part of the strain appears to be falling on the smaller employers who often hire young workers. Despite strong figures on corporate profitability, the income of proprietors and small business owners has weakened. Year over year, that income growth has fallen from nearly five percent a year ago to under two percent today. The pressure on small operators can translate directly into fewer summer hires.
Not every part of the seasonal market is shrinking in the same way. According to the jobs site Indeed, lifeguard positions have surged 78 percent over the past year, pointing to strong demand in that specific area. At the same time, some of the more classic seasonal gigs are pulling back in the middle of an uncertain economic environment. The picture, in other words, is uneven rather than uniform.
The difficulty extends beyond teenagers to those just leaving education. The unemployment rate for recent college graduates currently stands at 5.6 percent, well above the overall unemployment rate of 4.3 percent. As experts note, it used to be that the opposite was true, with graduates faring better than the wider workforce. That reversal underlines how much the labor market has shifted for young Americans this year.