The summer job market for high school and college students is
down across the country, and in Hollister teenagers are feeling the
effects. Nationally through May, only 6,000 jobs have been gained
for teenagers ages 16 to 19, according to Challenger, Gray
&
amp; Christmas, Inc., a company that specializes in job
placement. Last year in the same study, 111,000 jobs were gained in
May for teens of the same age.
The summer job market for high school and college students is down across the country, and in Hollister teenagers are feeling the effects.
Nationally through May, only 6,000 jobs have been gained for teenagers ages 16 to 19, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., a company that specializes in job placement. Last year in the same study, 111,000 jobs were gained in May for teens of the same age.
Compared with 1989, the employment rate of teens ages 16 to 19 has dropped from 57 percent to 32.9 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In Hollister the job market is just as bleak, said Enrique Arreola of the San Benito County Health and Human Services agency.
For more than 10 years, Arreola’s Summer Youth and Training Program has helped place teens in jobs during the summer months when they are out of school, but this year the lack of jobs and money has downsized the project.
Last year, through stimulus package money, Arreola placed 150 young people, ranging from 16 to 24 years old, into jobs rather easily, he said.
But this year it’s completely different.
With a smaller budget and not as many business asking for youth workers, Arreola said the project will fill about 40 jobs.
“We do have a need,” he said. “If we had 150 (teens), it would be more of a challenge.”
Arreola added that they have nearly 400 other teens on a waiting list to be a part of the program.
“We just didn’t get the funding,” Arreola said.
The program is open to teens who are part of a low-income household and have been presented with “obstacles,” Arreola said. Obstacles include having a probation record or being a foster youth.
This week, the 40 teens will pick their jobs, which includes positions with the county and city, he said. The program will start on June 28 and run until school begins in August.
For the rest of Hollister youths, searching for jobs is a struggle as well.
Mike Baya, owner of both A&W and Baskin Robbins, is hoping to hire nearly 10 workers in the upcoming weeks at the remodeled Baskin Robbins, he said. But at A&W there are no plans for new hires.
Baya looks to hire teens because they don’t demand many hours, he said.
“It’s mostly pocket change for them – it’s to pay their phone bill or something like that – so they don’t ask for much,” Baya said.
So far, Baya has received nearly 15 applications after posting a job-opening sign a week ago. He plans to have a full staff by July 7 to reopen the business.
See the full story in the Pinnacle on Friday.
