Summer was once a reliable season for teenagers to pick up work experience and earn a little spending money. That rite of passage may be fading for America’s youth.
The teen hiring rate this summer is expected to reach a 78-year low, according to a May 20 report by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Using Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the firm forecasts U.S. teens will gain 790,000 jobs in May, June, and July. This would be down from last year’s 801,000 and mark the lowest summer hiring total since the federal agency started tracking the data in 1948.
Almost 5.2 million individuals aged 16 to 19 were employed in April—the lowest since 2021—down from nearly 5.5 million last year….