As the summer job market heats up, small and seasonal businesses may find themselves missing out on a key demographic to fill – teenage employees.
Outsourcing firm Challenger Gray predicts 1.1 million jobs shall be added to teens in 2023, a slight decline from last yr’s figures and the bottom forecast since 2011. Group said this spring that teens are working again at pre-pandemic levels, but warned that many teens who wish to work are likely already working.
The unemployment rate amongst teens aged 16 to 19 rose barely in June to 11% from the previous month, in keeping with Friday’s June employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Meanwhile, the labor force participation rate fell year-on-year to 36.3% from 42.9% in June 2022.
According to hiring manager Glenn Byrum, this might mean fewer available employees for businesses like Grotto Pizza that rely heavily on teenagers.
At Grotto’s 20 locations in Delaware and Maryland, teenagers make up slightly below a 3rd of the corporate’s 1,100 employees. They’re at all times hiring but have a very good forged for this summer, he said.
“They’re a key a part of our success,” Byrum said, adding that each junior and J-1 visa employees help with seasonal beach locations.
“Hiring teenagers is at all times a process,” he said. “They appear to be rather more aware of the pliability of their job, the quantity of pay and the work environment itself.”
Byrum described what he believed to be a typical mentality amongst young employees, born of the abundance of summer job opportunities.
“If they don’t love something their employers are asking for, even when it’s a part of the job, they’ll easily take to the streets and work elsewhere and find other employment for a similar pay or possibly even higher,” she says. he said. “So it just keeps us on standby to make sure that we offer the perfect possible working environment.”
Grotto often employs teenage employees above minimum wage, Byrum said, and provides incentives for some to maneuver between locations as demand fluctuates seasonally.
Lexi Mathis, 16, got a raise for working at Grotto Beach in the course of the summer months. She said the corporate is flexible together with her schedule and the additional pay helps her cover her commute costs as inflation stays quite stubborn.
“I moved here to try to earn some more suggestions. And it was among the finest decisions ever since it was a giant raise after which they gave me slightly raise,” said Mathis.
Hiring and labor availability is an ongoing issue, especially for small business owners.
The dynamics of labor availability and desires have modified within the wake of the pandemic, with owners often struggling to seek out expert and unskilled employees for positions.
The restaurant sector is one among people who have felt the consequences of the shortage of workforce. The National Restaurant Association says restaurants will add one other 500,000 jobs by the top of the yr, but there is barely one job seeker for each two jobs open, increasing competition for employees.
Makiah Grindstaff has been working at Famous Toastery in Davidson, North Carolina for greater than two years, each in the course of the school yr and in the course of the holidays. The highschool student saved for several purposes and said her salary may very well be as high as $25 an hour, depending on her role on the restaurant and what day of the week it’s.
She and her friends are proud to have money for shopping, dinner and driving, Grindstaff said.
“I began driving, and gas is pricey, and I wanted to begin saving for faculty,” she said. “And I just want my very own money.”
