By Ben Tumin
June 21st is my mom’s birthday, the best day of the entire year after my own birthday. Why? In addition to thinking very highly of my mother, her birthday is the longest day of the year and the official kickoff for summer. Summer is the season for barbeques, swimming in vibrant bathing suits, and … summer jobs?
People may still be lighting up their grills this season, but high summer employment rates for many members of our generation are a thing of the past.
With students on summer vacation, you might think that more young people are employed during the summer. Students need to work during the summer to save up money for the school year, right?
Unfortunately, not so many succeed in finding jobs. Over the decade, there has been trend of low youth employment in July, with a record low in 2010 and small increases in 2011 and 2012.
In 2010, the U.S. Board of Labor Statistics gave some possible explanations for the low summer employment trend:
- More competition over entry-level jobs that were once available to students;
- Fewer federally funded summer jobs were available;
- With fewer jobs around, more students chose to study so that when it was their turn to graduate they would be able to grab the entry-level jobs that aren’t available to them now.
Those trends are likely to stick around this year. Unemployment rates among young people are still high, and sequestration eliminated even more jobs.
What impact do you think the decrease in summer employment will have on our generation?