1. Jobs Are Scarce for Teens in the Summer Months

2. Less than one-third of American minors age 16 and up nowadays maintain jobs similar to the typical cashier positions, cutting grass for neighbors or waiting on restaurant tables during the summer months. The plunge has been particularly sharp since 2000, with jobs for 16-to-19-year olds falling to the lowest point ever since the second World War.

3. 55+ employees, foreigners and college grads strapped with student loans are taking away the minimal-skilled work as they struggle to find their own career jobs in a weak economy. Higher-income households with caucasian teenagers are 3x as likely to secure summer time jobs versus lower income black teenagers, sometimes using their parents influence to pull some strings form their social circle.

4. As a result, greater than 44% of teenagers who want summer time jobs do not get them or go to work fewer hours than they choose.

5. Better routes to jobs are needed for teenagers who are not enrolled into 4-year higher education institutions, such as paid internships for high school seniors and increased post-secondary training in technical institutes.

6. Additional research has discovered that teens who are jobless spanning all income-groups, rich and poor, have been pending their free time watching TV, enjoying video games and sleeping more than upgrading their employable skills that a company wants. So, they are falling further behind the pack. It is better to sharpen your employable skills or even teach something that your parents may have helped you learn during summer camp.

7. What students need to do are to gain usable and desirable skills to get a job in not only a tough economy like we are in now in 2012 but also the future.