Ugenie Labranche, 16, who has been searching for a summer job since January, thought her luck had finally turned when she spotted a “hiring now” sign outside a Dunkin’ in Jenkintown, Pa. But when she called this month, she was told the store wasn’t hiring.
It has happened a few times. A sign in the window, hopeful calls, only to be told the position is no longer available. Ms. Labranche, who will be a junior in the fall, has applied to more than a dozen jobs but still hasn’t landed one. Most of the time, she doesn’t hear back at all.
“It is frustrating because there are a lot of kids my age that want to work and they just can’t,” she said.
Teenagers across the country are entering one of the toughest summer job markets in recent years, as traditional jobs at restaurants, amusement parks, pools and stores either pause new hiring or choose adults for those roles.
In May, the unemployment rate for teenagers rose to 13.4 percent, from 13 percent in April and 12.4 percent a year ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
A tighter labor market suggests that teen unemployment could reach its highest level in over a decade, said Andy Challenger, senior vice president of the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. In May 2015, the unemployment rate for teenagers was 17.8 percent, but it began to decline before the pandemic.
This year, the firm estimates there will be about one million new summer jobs for 16- to 19-year-olds. It could be the lowest number since 2010, Mr. Challenger said, adding that companies that traditionally hire summer workers may hold off this year.
Uncertainty about the economy is a major reason, said Alicia Sasser Modestino, an economist at Northeastern University in Boston. Some businesses are freezing roles or cutting seasonal positions over concerns about lower consumer confidence and fears that consumer spending will weaken under President Trump’s tariff policies. That hesitation hits teens hardest, Ms. Modestino said.
“Now when we’re starting to see the labor market cool off a bit in general, we’re seeing it hit teenagers harder, and teenagers first,” she said. “That’s because they’re really the canary in the coal mine. They are the last to be hired, the first to be fired.”
Tourism, another teen job driver, is down. Spending from international visitors to the United States is expected to drop by $8.3 billion this year, according to a recent Oxford Economics report.
Mudit Sachdev, a franchise owner of Camp Bow Wow, a dog day care and boarding center, said he expected fewer Americans to travel this summer, which would lead to a drop in demand for his services. So he hired 12 teens this summer across his three New Jersey locations, five fewer than last year.
Employers are also not hiring solely for summer jobs. That means they can be more selective, choosing experienced adults or those available beyond the summer, said Allison Shrivastava, an economist at Indeed Hiring Lab, a research group that’s part of the job site Indeed.
Yet teenagers are undeterred. On Indeed, early-May job searches for summer work were at their highest in recent years, the company said.
Teens are also looking to Boys & Girls Clubs of America, which teaches work force readiness skills. The organization reported a 14 percent jump last year in membership among teens, with many citing job readiness as a top reason for joining.
“They want to find a first job, they want adult preparation, and they want the skill development,” said Jennifer Bateman, senior vice president of youth development at the organization.
Ms. Bateman also said that the rise of automation — like self-checkout kiosks — has chipped away at the kinds of entry-level jobs teenagers used to rely on. “They definitely note that there’s fewer opportunities available,” she added.
Morgan Herb, a 16-year-old from Atlanta, started applying for retail and service sector jobs through Indeed in January but didn’t hear back from anyone.
So she started giving her résumé to store managers in person. That move landed her a part-time job in February, as a cashier at a food hall. But now she’s looking for a new job because she’s not getting as many shifts as she would like.
“It’s kind of frustrating, honestly,” Ms. Herb said. “Part of me is just kind of like accepting it, because really like, what am I going to do besides try to find a new job?”
Ms. Herb said she wanted to make money to participate in a weekly “Tater Tuesday” hangout with friends, where they make something fun and edible out of potatoes. She occasionally walks dogs and takes babysitting gigs to earn extra cash, she said.
Shalini Khiani, a 17-year-old in San Jose, Calif., also struggled to find the kind of work she was looking for. Last summer, she had a job at an amusement park in nearby Santa Clara, but she was unable to find a similar opportunity this year.
Eventually, she landed a job as an intern at a local summer camp, but it pays almost two dollars less than her job last summer. Ms. Khiani doesn’t think she would have gotten the job without her experience at the amusement park, since many of her teen co-workers at the camp previously had jobs.
“No one really likes hiring teenagers,” Ms. Khiani said. “This is the point where we are right now.”
Ms. Labranche, the high school junior, thought her experience working at a general store two summers ago would make her job search easier. But she struck out last summer and is facing the same challenges now. She will be applying to college next year, with plans to eventually become a lawyer, and said she hoped a summer job would offer skills she could list on her college applications.
“It’s just so hard. I don’t know why they won’t hire me,” she said.
Her mother, Eugesse Labranche, said she didn’t expect her daughter to have such a tough time finding a job. Summer jobs, she said, give teenagers a start in the work force and help them build experience.
“I would like her to find something to make her happy,” she said about her daughter. “I’m praying she finds something.”
Kailyn Rhone is a Times business reporter and the 2025 David Carr fellow.
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