Stifling summer is forecast for teenagers on job hunts
Unexpected competition offered by older workers trying to make ends meet
Saturday, May 29, 2004
By VICTOR GODINEZ and WENDY TOPLETZ / The Dallas Morning News
Bathing suit – check. Summer reading – check. Concert tickets for hot new bash – check. Job to finance it all – come again?
Teens in the Dallas area and across the country are having trouble finding work this summer. Only 37 percent of teens are likely to land a job, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston.
Gray Malin, 18, who just graduated from the Episcopal School of Dallas, doesn't think he'll be among them.
"I think it's very sad that more than half of teenagers are not going to be able to get jobs this summer, considering the fact that when teenagers aren't working, they're usually getting themselves into trouble," Mr. Malin said.
Mr. Malin – who is looking for summer spending money before going off to Emerson College in Boston – filled out numerous applications at Dallas-area restaurants and clothing stores without finding any work. He couldn't even get back on the payroll at the restaurant where he worked last summer. It now requires at least two years of experience.
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