The New York Times writes that "for American teenagers looking for work, this may be the best summer in years.
"As companies try to go from hardly staffed to fully staffed practically overnight, teens appear to be winning out more than any demographic group. The share of 16- to 19-year-olds who are working hasn’t been this high since 2008, before the unfolding global financial crisis sent employment plummeting. Roughly 256,000 teens in that age group gained employment in April — counting for the vast majority of newly employed people — a significant change after teenagers suffered sharp job losses at the beginning of the pandemic. Whether the trend can hold up will become clearer when jobs data for May is released on Friday.
"It could come with a downside. Some educators warn that jobs could distract from school. And while employment can itself offer learning opportunities, the most recent wave of hiring has been led by white teens, raising concerns that young people from minority groups might miss out on a hot summer labor market."
- KC's View:
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I wouldn't worry too much about the school thing. I worked my way through high school and college to pay the tuition (admittedly, a long time ago, when such a thing was possible), and it was in those retail stores that I got an enormous education that prepared me for life as an adult. (And, in their own way, for life as the Content Guy; I never dreamed I'd spend decades of my life writing about this stuff and reconsidering lessons learned so long ago.)
