Why Teens Are Struggling To Find Summer Jobs

Authored by Troy Myers via The Epoch Times,

Joslyne Baird has been looking for a job for about a year to help her family pay the bills.

She began her job search at 14 years old, applying to summer camps and grocery stores around her small Kentucky town of about 1,500 people, without success, she told The Epoch Times.

"I'm looking for babysitting jobs, mowing jobs, cleaning jobs, and so much more," the now 15-year-old said. "Anything I'm able to do to make money for, I will do."

Baird has not heard back from a single employer to which she submitted applications, she said.

What the Kentucky teenager is experiencing is a continuation of a trend that began in 2025: a worsening job market for American teens looking for summer work.

Experts accurately predicted last summer to be the toughest on record, and forecasted this one to be even worse, which some teenagers feel is true.

Whether it's waiting tables, bagging groceries, or stocking shelves, a summer job is one of many rites of passage into adulthood as kids seek more responsibility, less parental oversight, and their own money to spend, but experts say these roles typically filled by teens are fading.

However, there still exists a path to making money, some teenagers told The Epoch Times, even if it means becoming your own boss.

Job Search Struggles

Baird is one of 12 siblings and described herself as patient, caring, responsible, and mature - all attributes a hiring manager would look for in a teenage employee.

"I have not heard back from anybody," Baird said. "I want a job because my family has been struggling a lot with money, and I would really like to help them."

She has applied to many jobs over the course of about a year but to no avail.

Younger teenagers between the ages of 13 and 15 are more limited in their options due to the complexity of arranging transportation to get to work.

"Now that I'm 15, I'm hoping that people are willing to hire me since I'm older," Baird said. "I'm very hopeful on my job search."

Even older teenagers who are able to drive on their own described similar struggles.

Olivia Watson, 18, is going into her senior year in high school and looking for a part-time job.

She's heard back from a few employers and participated in some interviews but has not yet landed a position.

"Most employers are looking for employees with experience, which makes it difficult for young adults like me to find work," Watson, of Calhoun, Louisiana, said. "But also, most young adults are less motivated than others, so employers don't take young adults seriously, especially where I'm from."

Like Baird, Watson has applied for many jobs, including at local businesses, bakeries, retail stores, and restaurants, and she has applied for some customer service roles.

The Louisiana-based teen said she's been searching for a job for about a month, spending ample amounts of time filling out applications and following up with employers to try to make herself stand out as a candidate.

"Even though it's been challenging, I believe that if I keep applying, working hard, and staying positive, I'll eventually find a job that's a good fit for me," Watson said.

Watson said she wants to earn her own money to save for her future, help pay her own expenses, gain experience to prepare for adulthood, and ultimately become more independent.

Asked about whether she believed expert predictions about this summer becoming the worst on record for the teenage job market, she said she and many friends, who are also looking for similar jobs, are finding this to be true.

"Some have found jobs, but many are having the same experience I am - submitting lots of applications without hearing back or waiting a long time for interviews," Watson said. "It seems like finding a job has become much more competitive than many of us expected."

Job Search Success

Amid a worsening job market for teens, some are tapping into their entrepreneurial side to make money.

Tyler Brock was born and raised in rural Duplin County, North Carolina. He began working at 10 years old for a farmer up the road because he wanted gas money for his four-wheeler and to go bowling with friends.

"At that point in time, I was still doing stuff like that," Brock said. "But when I started my company, I [had] a one-track mind, and it was 'let's see how hard we can work and how much we can accomplish.'"

Eight years later, Brock is the owner of Tyler's Lawn Care, which services about 80 properties, and is a partial owner with his father in a trucking business.

Brock also recently bought a hog farm.

"I've always loved working, and that's something my dad has always instilled in me - hard work and dedication," Brock told The Epoch Times. "There's no time to complain."

Brock's hog farm is capable of holding up to 2,600 hogs, and he is partnered with Smithfield Foods, a food-processing company in Virginia.

The company owns the pigs and gives them to Brock when they're about 13 pounds. He cares for them until they're anywhere from 45 to 270 pounds, at which point they're ready to be taken to a processing facility.

He described all business ventures as a "dream" and a "blessing."

"I would get up, go to school, go to football practice, or whatever sport we were in, I'd leave there, and I'd go work," Brock said. "I can't stand sitting still, and most of the people my age, they like to game - I don't know how to run an Xbox controller."

Eventually, Brock said he quit sports to pursue work.

There were times he considered giving up and struggled with work, but there also have been moments of wild success and deep fulfillment, he said.

Jay Edouard, a 19-year-old from Long Island, New York, has a similar entrepreneurial spirit.

He told The Epoch Times his first job, technically, was selling candy to classmates in middle school. Edouard wanted to make money because he felt regretful asking his parents for some while growing up. He also said he wanted to buy new Jordan sneakers.

"I thought it would be easier, better for me to make my own money, so they can't tell me no," Edouard said. "My dad, even my mom, they loved that at a young age I just started to make my own money or at least try."

Once he entered high school, Edouard found work in landscaping businesses and shoveling snow. He and his friends used to enjoy the snow and play in it until they found out they could make money from it, Edouard said.

Eventually, he signed up for MyTeenGig, a website that connects teenagers to homeowners who will pay them to complete a chore around their home.

"They have all sorts of things on there," Edouard said. "Regular yard work, or even, at one time, we had to move a hot tub."

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