Jobs for teenagers and young adults are expected to be plentiful this summer, with more openings and better pay. High school and college students looking for summer work are benefiting from a strong labor market that is pushing employment for teenagers above pre-Covid levels to the highest rate in 15 years, economists say.
The predicted employment rate for 16- to 19-year-olds this summer is 32.8 percent, the highest since the summer of 2007, according to the annual summer job outlook for American teenagers published this month by the Drexel University Center for Labor Markets and Policy. “The summer will be good,” said Paul Harrington, the center’s director. “There’s terrific opportunities.” Teen employment plummeted in the summer of 2020 as the pandemic shuttered businesses, but rebounded last year and is expected to be even stronger this summer.
