Teens face challenges finding summer jobs

FORT COLLINS – Job counselors at the Larimer County Workforce Centers
report that the summer of 2011 is shaping up to be perhaps the toughest
one yet for high school and college students looking for work
experience.

Approximately 1,375 young people are currently registered and looking
for a summer job with the Larimer County Workforce Centers in Fort
Collins and Loveland through the Governor’s Summer Job Hunt.

Last year, when the average annual unemployment rate for Colorado adults
stood at 8.7 percent – the same rate as in May of this year – the
unemployment rate for 16- to 19-year-olds was 25.3 percent. Five years
ago, when the annual average unemployment rate for adults was 4.2
percent, teens between the ages of 16 and 19 still had an unemployment
rate of 15.9 percent.

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The Council of Economic Advisors wrote in a 2010 report that deep
downturns in the economy have a particularly adverse effect on young
Americans. “Teens who first enter the labor market during a recession
can have trouble getting their feet onto the first rung of the career
ladder, leaving them a step or more behind throughout their lives,” the
report says.

Department of Labor and Employment Executive Director Ellen Golombek
noted that the Governor’s Summer Job Hunt, now in its 31st year, is
especially important in tough economic times “because it helps teens
learn of job opportunities and understand how to market themselves to
employers.”

Youth-friendly employers are the strength of the Governor’s Summer Job
Hunt program, she added. “The best of these participating local business
people aren’t merely providing summer employment, they are help teens
succeed, helping students take that first transitional step from school
to career.”

Teens can learn more about the program by visiting the Department of
Labor and Employment’s website at www.colorado.gov/cdle/youth. Employers
who can give young people an opportunity should contact the Larimer
County Workforce Centers at 200 W. Oak St., No. 5000 in Fort Collins,
970-498-6600 or 418 E. Fourth St. in Loveland, 970-667-4261. Or go to
www.larimerworkforce.org/ and click on “Youth Services.”