USA Today – Kellie Ell
“It used to be that a summer job was considered a teenage rite of passage. Today, Monaco, who has never had a summer job, is part of a growing trend of teenagers who are focusing on their studies, even during the summer. Only 43% of teenagers had a job last summer. That’s down from the 72% of Americans age 16 to 19 who worked in July of 1978, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Instead of finding them interning in an office or behind a fast food counter, these days, you’ll find many teens in some sort of summer school. Forty-two percent of teenagers were enrolled in classes last summer — almost four times the number of students enrolled in summer school in July 1985. By 2024, teenage workers will make up just 26% percent of the workforce, a reduction of almost half since 1948 when the same age group accounted for more than 52% of workers.”(more)