One out of every three working-age teens in North Carolina is unemployed, many experiencing the same harsh job-market realities as their parents and older siblings.
According to a report by the Employment Policies Institute, a conservative think tank, the average jobless rate for ages 16 to 19 was 32.2 percent from May 2010 to April 2011.
According to the N.C. Employment Security Commission, the jobless rate for working-age teens was 27 percent in 2010.
North Carolina had the nation's fifth-highest teen jobless rate. Georgia was first at 36.8 percent, while the national rate was 24.2 percent.
A breakdown of teen unemployment by race for North Carolina was not available. Nationally, 40.7 percent of black teenagers are listed as jobless, compared with 20.7 percent of white teenagers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
What's startling — and sobering — about the state's high teen jobless rate is that it reflects year-round employment — which means the rate is likely to go higher now that high school is out and more teens enter the workforce to compete with college students, teachers and displaced workers for summer jobs.
"We still see a shortage of job opportunities for teens in the cash-strapped public sector, where taxpayer-funded park districts, public swimming pools, beaches, camps, etc., are likely to cut back on seasonal hiring," said John Challenger, chief executive of outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.
Michael Walden, an economics professor at N.C. State University, said he's not surprised that the teen jobless rate has risen from 17.7 percent in April 2007. The state has an above-average unemployment rate of 9.7 percent and a population with more young workers, Walden said.
Economists say a higher teen jobless rate affects more than teens' wallets. It also means long-term costs for the economy because they don't learn working skills, said Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities.
The reasons vary for why the job market for teens is so tight.
As state and local economies have soured since 2007, more adult North Carolinians are depending on minimum-wage work for primary or secondary income, and seniors are taking the jobs to supplement their retirement income.
Michael Saltsman, a research fellow at the Employment Policies Institute, said some employers have responded to higher federal and state minimum wages since 2007 by cutting their workforces or reducing staffing during peak hours. That is leading to longer lines at retail stores, restaurants and other businesses, he said.
The $7.25 federal minimum wage began in North Carolina in July 2009.
Paul Stone, the president and chief executive of the N.C. Restaurant Association, said he was against raising the minimum wage in part because "more teenagers will not get their first work experience in favor of adults who have more skills."
But several local outlets for teen employment — grocers, nonprofits, restaurants, retail — say although they are doing more work with fewer employees overall, they have not skimped on hiring.
When McDonald's held its national hiring day initiative April 19, teens represented at least half of the workers gaining jobs through a local franchise, Fry Girl Management Inc. of Winston-Salem.
Ginny Whan, the owner-operator of Fry Girl, runs eight McDonald's restaurants in the Triad, including three in Forsyth County. Since the minimum-wage increase in North Carolina, she said, its workforce has risen 25 percent to 400.
Whan said there are at least 100 working-age teens in Fry Girl's workforce.
"We take pride in being a preferred place for a teen's first work experience," she said. "Besides a paycheck, we try to teach them workplace lessons they can use forever."
Lowes Foods is hiring teens at normal levels despite the recession, said Paula Mitchell, a human-resources official.
Mitchell said teens typically represent about 30 percent of its overall workforce. "The need remains the same," she said.
Archie Hicks, the manager of the Employment Security Commission's office in Winston-Salem, said teens may have benefited from Gov. Bev Perdue's recent action to extend unemployment benefits to an estimated 47,000 North Carolinians.
Before that, "I think a lot of displaced people would have been forced to compete with summer youths for jobs," Hicks said. "The pressure may not be as intense since those people now have additional benefits coming to them."
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