Is the teen summer job a thing of the past?

A summer job was once a seasonal tradition for millions of American teenagers looking to earn some pocket money and get a taste of the working world. 

That was then. Now, businesses are on track to hire a record low number of teens this summer, according to a new analysis from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. 

“We are seeing lower participation in the workforce from teenagers, so it’s a combination of lower supply of those jobs and less demand from teenagers wanting summer positions,” Andy Challenger, senior vice president at the outplacement firm, told CBS News. 

Challenger, Gray & Christmas expects businesses to hire 790,000 teen workers this summer, which would be the lowest since the Department of Labor began tracking such data in 1948. By comparison, in the late-1990s, more than 2 million 16- to 19-year-olds worked summer jobs, the firm’s data shows. 

As recently as the 1980s, roughly half of teens participated in the nation’s labor force in some capacity; today, that figure is under 30%, according to Challenger. 

Overall, as of April, the U.S. had nearly 5.2 million workers ages 16 to 19, according to labor data.

One sector that traditionally turned to teens for summer work — leisure and hospitality businesses — is cutting back on hiring younger workers, Challenger noted. 

“We’ve seen a few job cut announcements in sectors where teenagers typically find jobs,” he said, pointing to summer camps, restaurants, amusement parks, ice cream shops and other similar businesses. “These are all areas of the economy that typically have a big surge of work in the summers, but it’s been an area that we’ve not seen hiring robustly, so we think that’s going to hurt teenagers.” 

Why fewer teens are working summer jobs

Several factors are contributing to the shift away from summer work for teens, including ongoing economic trends and longer-term social shifts.

Businesses are grappling with economic uncertainty, including sharply higher energy costs, making them hesitant to staff up. And many entry-level jobs, such as taking orders and providing customer service, are today handled by technology, including AI. 

Teens also find themselves competing for jobs with older workers, who may have stayed in the workforce due to affordability challenges or inadequate retirement savings. 

Meanwhile, many teens have other priorities than scooping ice cream or working at the local pool. Those can include preparing for college entrance exams, playing club sports and even seeking out paid internships, Challenger said. 

Other teens may be helping to look after siblings, while some have found alternative ways to make money, such as gig work, tutoring or creating online content. 

“There are a lot of reasons why they are working much less,” he said. “Getting into college is a lot more competitive, so they’re building their resumes with extracurriculars and other ventures.”