More than half of Tal Thompson’s 46 employees are teenagers.
The owner of the Art Factory in Midlothian, Virginia, said this summer, more than ever, she’s been inundated with applications from high school and college students looking for work.
The pay for jobs at the studio and coffee shop, which hosts art classes, summer camps, birthday parties and other events, start at $12 an hour, Virginia’s state minimum wage.
“This year, the resumes flooded in,” Thompson said.
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Job opportunities and wages rise for teens
Economists are predicting another strong summer for teen employment in 2023. Already, teens make up 18% of all summer hires this year, up from 15% a year ago, according to data from payroll platform Gusto.
“The market for teens is hotter than it’s ever been,” said Luke Pardue, an economist at Gusto.
Their wages are also rising. Average hourly wages for teen workers grew much faster than average wages among all workers over the last year, notching a 9% gain among 15- to 19- year-olds, compared with a 6% decline for workers age 25 and older, according to Gusto’s New Hires Pay Index.
The strong labor market and increased demand for low-wage work have also contributed to a rise in labor force participation.
Now, teens are more likely to have a paying job over the summer and while in school compared with just a few years ago. In 2022, 37% of teens between ages 16 and 19 were part of the workforce, up from 35% in 2019, figures from the U.S. Department of Labor show.
‘If they earn it and burn it, that’s a big problem’
The ability to find employment and earn more money should come as a “wake-up call” for every young adult with a paycheck, cautioned Gregg Murset, a certified financial planner and CEO of BusyKid, a savings app for kids and families.
“This is a perfect opportunity,” he said, to practice a “balanced financial approach.”
“If they earn it and burn it, that’s a big problem.”
Murset advises his own teenagers to stash some of their summer earnings in a high-yield savings account or Roth individual retirement account and start investing, even if that means buying fractional shares of companies that are meaningful to them, such as Netflix, Nike, Amazon or Apple.
Also, teach teens to keep track of their balance and their investment portfolio on their phone and laptop, he added. As all transactions become increasingly cashless, “let them have a digital experience.”
Finally, “find a charity they think is important,” Murset said, and donate a portion of their income to that cause.
“This is exactly what we should be doing as adults,” he said. “Letting kids experience that exact scenario in their own ecosystem is super important.”