Published August 27, 2024
Teen Summer Jobs Start Strong, Tumbles in July
After experiencing the strongest start to summer hiring since 2021, employers added 1,077,000 jobs across May, June, and July—a 4.2% increase from the 1,034,000 jobs added during the same period last year, according to a new analysis of non-seasonally adjusted data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) by global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., with non-seasonally adjusted data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Despite this overall growth in job additions, the youth labor market faced significant challenges. Only 95,000 jobs were added for teens in July, marking the lowest hiring figure for the month since BLS began tracking this data in 1948.
With the exception of last summer, this summer’s job gains for teens represent the fewest number of jobs added for this age group since 2010, when teens gained just 960,000 jobs during the summer months. This sharp decline in teen hiring coincides with a rise in the unemployment rate for this demographic, which reached 13.2% in July, up from 12% the previous year. This increase suggests that while teens were actively seeking employment, opportunities were increasingly scarce.
“Hiring has softened across the board as the labor market cools and companies focus on cutting costs. Many organizations are implementing hiring freezes and reducing compensation in response to economic pressures. While the summer began with strong hiring momentum for teen workers, it lost steam significantly as the season progressed,” said Andrew Challenger, a labor and workplace expert and Senior Vice President at Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., with non-seasonally adjusted data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This slowdown reflects broader economic uncertainties and cost-cutting measures within companies, which are impacting both new entrants to the workforce and more experienced job seekers alike. The data underscores the challenges that young workers face in a cooling labor market, where competition for fewer available positions is becoming more intense.
# # #
Contact Colleen Madden Blumenfeld for more data or to set up an interview with SVP Andy Challenger.
Download the Report
