CHICAGO, July 9 (UPI) -- U.S. outplacement company Challenger, Gray & Christmas said hiring of teenagers for summer jobs is off to its strongest start in seven years.
The company said its analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures indicate 994,000 teenagers 16-19 found jobs through the end of June, and more teens may find jobs this summer than in 2012, when 1.4 million teens got work in May, June and July, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
The number of teens hired in June, 779,000, was down from 858,000 in June 2012. The company said because May got off to a fast start, hiring teenagers may have lost some steam in June. Hiring in May showed job-hunting teenagers off to a solid start as 215,000 found work in the month, the most for a May since 2006.
Chief Executive Officer John Challenger said teen hiring in May and June is still ahead of May through July in 2010.
For 2013, "these remain some of the strongest summer employment figures we have seen since the recession began in 2008," Challenger said.
There is more competition from older workers and recent college graduates for what traditionally been summer jobs for teenagers, the outplacement firm said.
"As more and more Americans flock to the Internet for their shopping needs, traditional brick and mortar stores are seeing traffic decline along with the need for extra summer employees," Challenger said.
