A teen with a job becomes a rarity in US economy

From MSNBC:

Only about 25 percent of 16- to 19-year-olds currently are working, a drop of 10 percentage points from just five years ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The percentage of teenagers who have jobs, expressed as the ratio of employment to population, hovered between 40 and 50 percent for much of the 1980s and 1990s. The percentage began dropping about a decade ago, but the declines have been especially steep since the beginning of the Great Recession in late 2007....


The job market is unquestionably difficult for all teens, but experts say it’s especially hard for those who may need the money most: Teens from poor families and families in which a parent is out of work.

“It’s the opposite of what everybody thinks,” said Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University.

Sum said the disparity is partly because many kids get jobs through family and community connections such as parents, neighbors or relatives.

That can also have a ripple effect: The likelihood of working increases significantly once a teen has already held a job, according to his research....

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Link: http://lifeinc.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/03/11489527-a-teen-with-a-job-becomes-a-rarity-in-us-economy?lite