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Teens find a tight job market
[Times photos: Cherie Diez]
From left, Antwonette Nurse, Ramona Wesley and Tanisha Wesley, all of St. Petersburg, talk to Mark Williams, a St. Petersburg Police Department recruiter, at a recent teen job fair at PTEC. |
By MONIQUE FIELDS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 21, 2003
Looking for work this summer? You might have to look longer than you expect, or take on two or three jobs to get enough hours.
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ST. PETERSBURG -- Kanesha Thomas spent two months searching for part-time work. She tried nursing homes, grocery stores and retail outlets.
Her phone never rang.
"I just want a regular job," the 17-year-old said, while attending a recent Youth Job Fair for Pinellas County students.
Her search is likely to become more difficult as summer draws near, employment experts say. In an economic downturn complicated by the war in Iraq, teens will need to exercise a lot of patience in a job market that is shaping up as a tight squeeze.
Filling out employment applications at the job fair are St. Petersburg teens, from left, Jakar Flournoy, Darryl Mathis, Rico Morelan and Artrelle Reddick.
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"Employers have openings, but they're waiting" until after the war to fill them, said Ahad Diba, who coordinated the job fair at the Pinellas Technical Education Center in St. Petersburg.
Some cooperative education teachers said they saw teen job trouble coming early this year. That's when some of their students complained their work hours had been cut. Some had to take on a second job to make sure they got enough hours to earn high school credit.
"Most years if I go to an employer and say, 'Sally here is going to come up short. Can we give her anther five weeks?' they say, 'Sure,' " said Don Macneale, a work experience coordinator at St. Petersburg High School. "But this year, they can't do it."
Pasco County teenagers also are frustrated. Henkels & McCoy, an employment company that works with Pasco schools, says there are considerably more students than jobs. And even when students find work, they may not get the hours they need.
"More industrious students are working for two and three employers," said Paul Mitchell, a program manager for Henkels & McCoy.
The trend isn't universal. Hillsborough school officials said they haven't noticed a big change in the job market. Neither have some Pinellas schools.
"It's just the opposite," said Jed Lehrer, a diversified career technology coordinator at Tarpon Springs High School. "We have to make sure our kids don't work too much."
The reason: Growth in North Pinellas is generating new jobs, Lehrer said.
Still, the unemployment rate for Pinellas as a whole is considerably higher than during the boom years of the 1990s. That means students are having to scrap for the same jobs as adults who have been laid off.
"Even when the market isn't tight, it's tight for kids," said Jonathan Wade, manager of Clearwater One Stop, which provides job listings and job training.
He said the best way for teens to find work is through summer programs.
The City of St. Petersburg has a summer program that funnels $250,000 to 163 students. But administrators already have received more than 500 applications.
More than 700 students went to a recent job fair at the Pinellas Technical Education Center. But openings are scarce, said Lynne DeMent, a manager for Target.
Most Target employees are holding onto their jobs, she said. And many of the positions that are available are on the late shift, which eliminates most teens.
Here's the rest of today's Xpress
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