School’s letting out for summer this week and that means teenagers across South Florida will be looking for summer jobs. The job market for Florida teens is tough, but not hopeless. As of April, the unemployment rate for 16 to 24 year olds is 16%.
Jacinta Straus, youth coordinator with the Workforce Florida system, said, “The problem is that with many people being out of work a lot of experienced workers, people with degrees are working in the jobs that the youth might have qualified for.”
Entry level jobs in fast food, retail, hotels are tougher to get in this economy. Straus works with teens and young adults through the Workforce Investment Act, which uses federal funds for training and job placement.
She says high school students can give their resumes a competitive edge by playing up math, technology and other skills they’ve learned in class.
“Math is good. They may get jobs in the retail area, working cash registers. Maybe they’ve got some computer experience and they could do some general office work.“
The last days of school are this week for most South Florida students. And teens who want to find a summer job are going to have a hard time of it. The unemployment rate for young people is 16%. Teens will be competing for entry-level jobs against recent college grads and unemployed workers with more experience.
Jacinta Straus, is a youth coordinator with the Workforce Florida system. She says teens can spin their classroom experience to make themselves stand out:
"So if a student has some good communication skills based on some of the courses that they’ve taken in school, their English, their reading, they’ve got some good strong math skills and maybe they’ve got a pretty good background in computers, that would help them in finding employment”, Straus said.
Teens can go to employflorida.com to find resources and job listings.