Outlook Brighter For Teens Seeking Jobs This Summer
DETROIT (WWJ) - It's that time of year again. With graduation approaching thousands of Michigan teens will be seeking a summer job.
Kurt Weiss with the Michigan Department of Management and Budget tells WWJ that this summer more teens will be able to get jobs:
"It's better this summer for teens than it has been in the past, but it's still not where we'd like to it," said Weiss.
"Areas like restaurants, golf courses, even car washes, painting, those kinds of things people are starting to spend a little bit more money, so that's good news for those summer kinds of jobs."
"When you have 240,000 kids, you know, young people entering the job market all at once it does put a very big drain on the jobs that are out there," said Weiss. "It's always going to be a higher in the traditional adult market."
Weiss says teen unemployment continues to decline, but still stands at twenty-five percent.
"Our overall unemployment rate in the state is down to eight point five percent, from a high of fourteen percent - so that is good news and now we've seen these market unemployment rates come down from highs in the thirties ... the numbers are moving in the right direction," he noted.
While the job outlook is brighter for teens - Weiss says despite the recent improvement in the state's economy an estimated 60,000 teens seeking work this summer will struggle to find it.
He stresses that teens should start looking for summer work now if they haven't already and that communication is key; let friends and family know you are looking for work.
