Poor economy leaves teens struggling to find summer jobs
| Sunday, Jun 12 2011 08:00 PM
Last Updated Sunday, Jun 12 2011 10:39 PM
Sonia Portillo-Burns, manager of Jamba Juice, shared some of her tips for young people seeking a summer job:
* Bring a pen and paper when you show up to apply.
* Do your research. Know a little about the company before approaching it.
* Be sure to smile. Employers, especially in customer service jobs, are looking for a good attitude above many other qualities.
* Don't just turn in your application and walk away.
Rose Taylor, 18, needs a summer job.
A music student at Bakersfield College, Taylor found recently that her part-time job at Denny's will not pay all her bills, which include food, gas, car payments and insurance, her cellphone, and piano lessons, which alone cost $150 per month.
The search for work has not been easy.
"I've applied to six or seven places so far," Taylor said. "None of them were hiring."
Among the biggest difficulties were the time and gas the search consumed.
"It's hard, having to drive all over town to look for a job," Taylor said.
Teens in Bakersfield have had an increasingly difficult time securing summer employment, in yet another sign that the Great Recession is not quite over.
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics placed the California unemployment rate for teens ages 16 to 19 at 34.4 percent in 2010 This number includes only teens who have actively searched for work within four weeks of the data being collected.
In May, the U.S. Department of Labor put the national unemployment rate for workers ages 18 to 19 at 21.5 percent. Overall unemployment in Kern County remains about 17 percent.
Bakersfield parents are also feeling the pressure.
Taylor's mother, Lauri, has four children whose ages range from 18 to 21. While she considers herself lucky that all four have part-time jobs, Lauri said her children had real difficulty securing the hours they needed to meet their expenses.
"It does cause my husband and I more concern because we're always wondering if our kids are going to have enough, have what they need," Lauri said. "If one of them was to lose their job, it would have an immediate impact. It would be very difficult for them to find another."
Lauri said the fragility of her children's jobs makes it difficult to plan family vacations.
"All of our children are afraid to ask for time off because they don't want to lose their jobs," she said.
Michael Rodriguez, 19, has been looking for a job since summer began. He wants to move out of his parents' house and have money for expenses.
"It's been a tough search," Rodriguez said. "I know I started late, but there are so many people looking for work, and nobody seems to be hiring."
But it is clear that some companies, at least, are actively searching for teen labor.
"We're hiring, and we're not getting that kind of an applicant flow from that age group. Applications from 16- to 19-year-olds are few and far between," said Ronald Johns, who owns seven McDonald's franchises around Bakersfield. During a recent "hiring day," Johns said, he saw 300 to 400 people lined up for the possibility of employment.
"The number of 16- to-19-year-olds (at the hiring event) was very few," Johns said. "It was mostly people that were later in college or older, or housewives looking for second jobs, or sometimes people just looking for any job."
Elise Franco, assistant manager for Abercrombie & Fitch in Bakersfield, said this summer she, too, has seen an unusual trend of older people seeking employment.
"I see a lot of older people going door-to-door at the mall and applying everywhere. Maybe not coming to Abercrombie because they like the brand, but because they need a job," Franco said. "A lot of them come with full resumes; they have much more experience when it comes to looking for a job."
Sonia Portillo-Burns, manager of Jamba Juice, said she had seen more teens than usual this summer applying for positions.
Competing with their elders has given some teens a sense of hopelessness. Based on what he had been reading about the economy, Rodriguez said he often just assumes older, more well-qualified people have already applied to the jobs he sees.
Wages can also be an issue. Rodriguez and Taylor both said they could not afford to work for minimum wage.
"I would not work for McDonald's," Taylor said. "The job has no tips and is minimum wage. I can't really live on that."
Rodriguez, too, said he would not accept minimum wage, saying he needed at least $10 per hour.
"Gas is expensive," Rodriguez said. "I have a good education; I'm hard-working and reliable. I don't think I should have to work for minimum wage."
Heavy competition, few qualifications, and the necessity of a more-than-minimum-wage paycheck are all contributors to youth unemployment in Kern County.
But as James McSweeny, 23, who has applied to 15 places to no avail, put it: "Younger people have a different drive. It isn't about survival yet. Nobody our age is really that desperate."
