The Pew Research Center has found that only about a third of American teenagers held summer jobs this year, a dramatic plunge from rates seen three decades ago.
Just 35.5% of 16-to-19-year-olds were working gigs this summer, according to Pew’s analysis of federal unemployment numbers released this month. That figure marks a steep decline from 1996, when more than half of teens had summer jobs. The data shows teen summer employment has shrunk dramatically over the past quarter century, with particularly sharp drops following the dot-com bust and during the Great Recession of 2008.
The summer of 1978 stands as the peak in the roughly 50 years of available data, with 58% of teenagers holding jobs. This year’s 35.5% rate does represent a modest uptick from last summer’s 33.8%, with roughly 19,500 more teens working in June and July. Still, the overall trajectory points sharply downward.
Economists cited in Pew’s report pointed to a shrinking pool of low-skill, entry-level jobs as a primary driver of the decline. The kinds of positions that once defined adolescent summers — scooping ice cream, lifeguarding, retail clerk work — have become scarcer as industries automate or restructure. More teens are also choosing to take high school and college classes over the summer instead of entering the workforce, trading sweaty, character-building gigs for academic advancement.
Food service dominated teen employment this summer when jobs were available, followed by positions in sales and transportation trades. The sector breakdown reflects where entry-level opportunities still exist, even as the overall number of such positions contracts.
The pandemic delivered a particularly brutal blow to teen employment. In summer 2020, the teen employment rate cratered to 30.8% as stores and restaurants shuttered nationwide. While the rate has recovered somewhat since then, it remains far below historical norms and has struggled to regain pre-pandemic momentum.
The decline in summer jobs represents more than a statistical curiosity for labor economists. For generations, seasonal work served as a critical bridge between adolescence and adulthood, providing first paychecks, workplace socialization, and resume-building experience. The fading of this tradition raises questions about how today’s teens will develop the soft skills and professional habits that previous generations acquired through early work exposure.
Some labor market observers have noted that the jobs teens once filled increasingly go to older workers or disappear entirely through automation and restructuring. The rise of AI and large language models has accelerated this trend, with basic organizational work — data entry, content drafting, workflow creation — now handled by systems that require minimal human oversight. A report from the University of Denver’s student newspaper noted that tasks once delegated to interns and entry-level workers are increasingly automated, reducing the need for young workers altogether.
The shift has forced teens who do seek work to compete in a tighter market or pursue alternative paths. Some have turned to unpaid internships, though those opportunities have also declined. Others focus on academic enrichment, hoping that advanced coursework will substitute for missing work experience on college applications and early resumes.
For those teens who do land summer employment, the experience increasingly resembles that of adult workers rather than the casual, temporary arrangements of previous generations. Employers expect more, training periods have shortened, and the gap between teen and adult responsibilities has narrowed in the positions that remain available.
The Pew data lands amid broader concerns about youth engagement with the labor market. Separate surveys have found that Gen Z workers express heightened anxiety about economic conditions and job prospects, with many reporting difficulty finding positions that match their skills and expectations. The summer job decline feeds into this larger narrative of a generation facing a transformed economic landscape.
In the viral moment that captured national attention decades earlier, summer jobs were so ubiquitous that they formed a shared cultural touchstone — the poolside whistle, the fast-food headset, the mall uniform. Films, television shows, and family lore all reinforced the expectation that teenagers would work, often in jobs they found embarrassing or tedious, for the modest wages and life lessons such positions provided. That expectation has eroded as the jobs themselves have vanished or been restructured beyond recognition.
Whether the summer job will stage a comeback remains uncertain. Some economists argue that labor market tightness in certain sectors could eventually pull more teens back into employment, particularly if wages rise enough to compete with academic alternatives. Others see the decline as structural and irreversible, driven by technological change and evolving educational priorities that show no sign of reversing.
Pew’s researchers noted that the modest increase from 2024 to 2025 offers a glimmer of possibility, though the overall trend line continues downward. For now, the generation that once defined itself through summer employment must confront a new reality where such experiences are no longer the norm.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to release additional youth employment data in its August jobs report.