College & Workforce Readiness

Job Market for Students Tightens as U.S. Economy Cools

By Mark Stricherz — May 30, 2001 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Graduating seniors looking to enter the workforce and other high school students searching for summer jobs are facing a tighter job market this year as the once red-hot U.S. economy continues to cool.

No one has to tell 18-year-old Tannia Baqueiro that. Ms. Baqueiro, a graduating senior at Montgomery Blair High School here in suburban Washington, currently makes $7.50 an hour as a part-time clerk for a produce company. But her quest for “less boring” work at higher pay has turned up slim pickings.

Nationally, the jobless rate for 16- to 19-year-olds continues to rise. The unemployment rate for teenagers hit 14.2 percent in April, compared with 12.8 percent last year, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

“It’s very obvious that it’s going to be a little harder this summer, because businesses are much more reserved and cautious,” said Mark J. Gambill, the vice president of marketing at Manpower Inc., the nation’s largest temporary-employment agency.

The New York City-based company recently surveyed 16,000 public and private employers. It found manufacturing, light industry, and high-tech firms were least likely to be seeking employees.

Temporary jobs typically are the first to suffer in a slowing economy, but other sectors that employ teenagers heavily have fallen on leaner times as well.

For instance, the amusement, recreation, and hotel industries shed a combined 43,000 jobs in March and April, said John F. Stinson Jr., an economist at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Low Pay

Ironically, the pinch comes as the nation’s overall jobless rate remains low—4.5 percent in April, a rate about as low as at any time since the 1950s. And statistics show that fewer teenagers have been jobless over the past few summers than at any time during the previous decade.

“The jobless rates are still low by historical standards,” Mr. Stinson said.

Ten years ago, for example, the unemployment rate for 16- to 19-year-old workers was 21.1 percent in June and 15.7 percent in July. Last year, the rate was 14.4 percent and 12.4 percent, respectively, federal figures show.

Experts say teenagers looking for summer work still can find lots of jobs—but not lots of pay.

The continuing slump in the nation’s high-tech sector and lingering uncertainty over the general health of the economy have combined to limit teenagers’ job options to the type of work that American youths typically have thrived on—the retail and fast-food industries.

For the past several years, experts say, large numbers of teenagers found work with high-paying technology companies. But those heady days of $50,000 starting salaries for those with computer skills and only a high school diploma have ended.

Nationally, some 2.8 million students are expected to graduate from public and private high schools this year, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Lacking some sort of postsecondary education or training virtually ensures those graduates will garner low wages.

Ron Bird, the chief economist at the Employment Policy Foundation, a Washington-based nonprofit think tank, said economic projections show that wage growth for those with only a high school diploma will be the slowest among all groups.

“There is a fundamental shift evident in the U.S. economy, tied primarily to technology, that will reward more professional, management, and technical-type jobs as opposed to line operators,” he said.

Partly for that reason, Mr. Gambill of Manpower said that only a small wage gap exists between high school graduates entering the workforce and students merely looking for summer employment. “The differences between a junior’s skill level and a senior’s aren’t much,” he said.

Sharon W. Williams, the career counselor at Montgomery Blair High, said such an outlook makes sense to her. In the past several weeks, she has received 10 calls from employers looking for graduating seniors to hire. Leafing through a binder, she ticked off the names of some of the positions sought, ranging from an administrative assistant for Congress to a clerical job at a plumbing company.

“If you look at what they’re paying, it’s $15,000 to $20,000 a year,” Ms. Williams said. “That’s not enough. You can’t live on that.”

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the May 30, 2001 edition of Education Week as Job Market for Students Tightens as U.S. Economy Cools

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

College & Workforce Readiness Should Students Sign Up for AP or Dual Enrollment? What Readers Think
EdWeek readers share their take on the debate over pathways to earning college credit in high school.
4 min read
Educators at the College Board's AP annual conference learn about various AP program offerings intended to address access and equity to advanced coursework for underrepresented students in Seattle, Wash. on July 20, 2023.
Educators at the College Board's AP annual conference learn about various AP program offerings intended to address access and equity to advanced coursework for underrepresented students in Seattle, Wash. on July 20, 2023.
Ileana Najarro/Education Week
College & Workforce Readiness Parents Value 'Workforce Development.' Here's How to Get Their Support for CTE
The ways in which schools and policymakers talk about career and technical education influences parents' support for it.
4 min read
Students make measurements to wood to add to a tiny home project during their shop class at Carrick High School in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Dec. 13, 2022.
Students make measurements to wood to add to a tiny home project during their shop class at Carrick High School in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Dec. 13, 2022.
Nate Smallwood for Education Week
College & Workforce Readiness Q&A Common App Will Offer Some Students Direct College Admission. Its CEO Explains
A new program aimed at motivating more first-generation, low-income students to go to college launches this month.
7 min read
Illustration of a college building and diverse students.
Collage via iStock/Getty
College & Workforce Readiness Opinion To Help Students, One Company Has Unlocked $100 Million a Year in College Aid
A peer-based mentoring organization encourages high school seniors to apply to college and helps them receive financial aid.
7 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty