US newspapers hail the rise in teen labor and poverty wages as a “rite of passage”
Washington Post, the
New York Times, and the
Chicago Tribune, have run articles praising the increase in employment of teenagers. The articles appeared shortly after the publication of the latest jobs report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, which showed that the percentage of youth aged 16–19 years old holding jobs increased to 33.2 percent, the highest since 2008.
A theme running through the articles is a sense of jubilation. “Teens are saving the summer,” writes the
Journal, with the
Post declaring that the higher number of teenage workers is “good news, for the economy and the nation’s soul.” The
As companies try to go from hardly staffed to fully staffed practically overnight, teens appear to be winning out more than any demographic group. The share of 16- to 19-year-olds who are working has not been this high since 2008, before the unfolding global financial crisis sent employment plummeting.