en-us Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:13:32 GMT 15 By Rebecca Cloud-Heinle
    In 2008, the nation’s economy experienced a terrifying blow.  Currently, America has an account deficit of $857 billion, house prices have fallen by as much as 30% in some areas, and there is a general lack of confidence in the banking system due to bad loans.  By the end of the previous year, the unemployment rate bolted 7.2%, a statistic that is causing an incredible amount of hardship for American families everywhere.         But was does all of this mean for teens?  Young men and women are not responsible for paying the bills and certainly not for buying and selling a house.  However, young people seeking employment, even at jobs that are traditionally “teen jobs,” are running into serious problems.  Since the beginning of the recession, many kinds of businesses-everything from chain clothing and grocery stores to hometown “mom-and-pop” stores- are beginning to hire older, more experienced workers.  Surprisingly, since as early as March 2007, teen hiring has decreased by 5 percent.     Maddy Dana, a 17 year-old student, has worked at a chain restaurant in Fresno for ten months.  She explained to me that for her first 5-6 months working at the store, they received a lot of business, with no significant change.  However, since then, she said that the business has, “plateau-ed.”  Business started to decrease, forcing her to work fewer hours, therefore receiving less pay.     It is easy to understand that adults would, of course, receive more hours than an average teen would.  However, Maddy began to notice that she was receiving significantly less, to the point of inadequacy.  When she confronted her boss about her hours, she received the explanation that she was receiving fewer hours than the adult employees because she is underage, a perfectly acceptable answer.  However, while Maddy was once working 4-5 hours a night on week nights, she is now working only 3 hours a week.  Even her weekend hours have dropped significantly.  She explained, “I understand I can’t have more hours on weeknights…but I’m not getting any hours on weekends either.”     Maddy noticed another rising trend: the firing of teenagers and hiring of adults.  Since the late months of 2008, she has been the youngest employee, the majority of staff ranging in age from 22-30 years.  When she’d first begun the job, there were 5 people under the age of 18 employed.  After only a few months, those 5 people were let go and 2 adults were hired to take their places.     Brandon Bishoff is an 18 year old senior at Clovis West who has recently begun searching for a job.  Last summer, he worked at a construction sight, providing general labor.  However, his luck in finding another job that fits with his school schedule has run out.  “I’ve tried at Target, movie theaters, Best Buy, and Borders,” he explained.  Brandon has not been successful in any of these attempts to be hired.  “I feel that it’s hopeless, so I stopped trying.”     Kaylee Rice, is a 17 year old student from Fresno, who is currently being home schooled.  Kaylee has been searching for a job since October of 2008 and has thus far had little success.  She has been searching for a business that will hire her for a few hours after school and on weekends.  However, most jobs that she is interested in, such as grocery stores and fast-food restaurants, are not accepting her applications.  She is worried that she will not find a job and will be unable to receive both the money that she wants to save for college expenses and also invaluable experience in the business world.  She stated, “It’s hard to get any job experience when nobody’s hiring.”     It is understandable that companies have begun hiring more adults in these hard economic times.  Men and women over 18 are the center of the working world and obviously have more financial responsibilities than teens do.  However, the rate at which teenagers are loosing jobs and the amount of teens unable to find them is alarming.  Not only do parents have to give their children more money for necessities that the teenagers may have been able to pay for themselves, but young people are also loosing out on valuable job experience that will help them in the future, when a job will be absolutely necessary.      As hiring age increases, experience level decreases.      That’s one equation we can’t afford to ignore.     One can only hope that the nation’s economic troubles are fixed quickly, so that everyone can get back on track, adults and teens alike. ]]> Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:26:02 GMT