For teens, summer job market getting tighter

This summer's teen job market looks grim, with the projected employment rate expected to be the lowest since World War II, according to research.

This summer 34.2 percent of teens are expected to work, down from 34.5 percent last year, according to a study by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston.

"The job market is bad for everyone, especially teens who lack experience," said Bernice Kao, head of Job Service Outreach for the Fresno County Calif. Library. "They are going to have to pound the pavement even harder."

In some cases teenagers are now competing with adults for the same entry-level jobs, said Joe Cabrera, a program site manager for California's Employment Development Department.

"There have always been jobs that were designated for youth such as fast food, but now you are seeing more adults, including retired people, who are coming back to the work force, mostly for financial needs," Cabrera said. "Money is just not going as far as it used to."

Nicole Romero, 18, knows she faces a tighter job market this summer. She can rattle off the names of nearly a dozen employers that she has applied to, from big box retailers to a local sushi restaurant.

"I really didn't think it was going to be this hard," Romero said. "But I still have hope; I am not giving up."

Kathy Siggers, a co-owner of Wild Water Adventures -- a perennial summer employer of teens -- said that while the economy has made the job market for young people tougher, it has also begun to change in other ways.

The water park expects to hire about 300 workers, roughly the same number as last year. So far, about 150 have been hired for the upcoming season.

But Sigger said she's also begun to see a different type of young worker. Fewer students who are applying for work are doing it because their parents want them to learn some job skills. The summer has become too short to fit in academics, athletics and a job.

"Some of these kids have a full plate and work is not on the list," Siggers said. "The kids I see now are the ones who need to work and who are ready to work."

The sluggish economy has also caused Siggers to notice a small increase in the number of adults applying for jobs at the family-run water park.

"These are people that I probably wouldn't see if the job market were stronger," Siggers said. "There is less opportunity out there."

(E-mail Robert Rodriguez at brodriguez(at)fresnobee.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com)