US Teen Summer Job Crisis Deepens as Opportunities Dry Up

Jaelyn Chester is 17 years old. She has straight A grades. She plays basketball and wants to be an engineer. But she cannot find a summer job.

Chester has sent out dozens of applications. She keeps copies of her resume in her car. She walks into restaurants and stores to ask managers directly. Still, no one is hiring her.

She is not alone. Federal data shows only about one in three American teenagers aged 16 to 19 had a job last summer. That is a sharp drop from the late 1970s when nearly 60% of teens were working.

Experts say the problem is structural. Nicole Bachaud, an economist at ZipRecruiter, calls teenagers one of the most marginalized groups in the labour market. Opportunities at the bottom of the career ladder have dried up.

For Chester, the stakes are personal. Without a job, she cannot afford to fill her car with gas. She cannot go to concerts. A planned college visit trip to North Carolina with friends may be cancelled.

She insists her unemployment is not about competence. It is about a market that has shut young people out. Her summer, she fears, will be ruined.