According to recent government data, this summer the trend is towards the demand for adolescent workers in the midst of a tighter labor market compared to previous years.
According to the analysis, employers have opted for higher than usual salary increases attracting their future employees, More than 34% of young people between the ages of 16 and 19 already have a job since April, compared to 30% in 2019.
The labor sectors where young workers work the most are in retail stores, fast food restaurants, amusement parks, among others, which for this year wages increased by 5%.
Although, the labor market shows signs of adjustment and slowdown with a 3.4% unemployment rate nationwide, there are currently 1.6 job vacancies for every unemployed person, and despite the layoffs that have occurred in large companies since the end of last year, some sectors have increased their hiring.
In this sense, the leisure and hospitality sector hired 31,000 employees in April, a work area that had been affected during the covid-19 pandemic. The same for the service and food sectors such as bars and restaurants, which according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics added some 24,800 workers to their payrolls.
Many defenders of child welfare have promoted proposals for public policies to improve the employment contracts of adolescents, this in order to reduce exploitation in child labor.
However, some bills remain, such as in the case of Wisconsin, which is considering allowing minors under 14 years of age to serve alcohol in bars and restaurants or as in New Jersey where 16- and 17-year-old workers had their hours increased a week from 40 to 50 during the summer.
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Source: La Opinion
