WASHINGTON TIMES: The American job market is no place for students as the number of employed high schoolers has hit its lowest level in more than 20 years, according to new figures from the National Center for Education Statistics.
In 1990, 32 percent of high school students held jobs, versus just 16 percent now. Blame their elders.
Sectors that traditionally have offered teens their first paying gig — fast-food chains, movie theaters, malls and big-box retailers — have now become the last resorts for out-of-work college graduates or older Americans forced back into the labor force out of sheer financial necessity. The resulting squeeze has left students on the outside looking in… (more)
Since these kids are not even in the labor market yet they are not counted in the unemployment figures, but the cutting in half of the employment levels of high school students since 1990 is going to have a long-term effect on the economy and shows the downward cycle of the middle class, as older workers take the entry level jobs that high school students used to take.
KZ