Summer jobs for teens are out there, but get ready to hustle. (Photo Credit: CC BY-ND/Longwood Events)

The recession has made getting a job more difficult for everyone, but if you’re a teenager looking for summer jobs, the competition can be overwhelming. Nothing ventured, nothing gained still applies, however – even at minimum wage. Here are some hot summer jobs that typically employ younger, less experienced workers.

The kids are alright, thanks to the babysitter

Baby sitting and nanny positions will always need to be filled, and responsible, energetic young people who remain cool under fire are a good fit. Laura Davis, owner of College Nannies & Tutors franchises in three states told Bankrate that her company places hundreds of teens in such summer jobs. Another company named Care.com has connections with thousands of local colleges that help connect prospective caregivers with families.

Make it a Meatballs summer

There are typically jobs available at summer camps for kids, including day camps, weeklong or for the entire summer season. If a teen is active and outgoing, teaching children about camping or canoeing can be a breeze. According to Sandy Blondin of Fox Valley Special Recreation Association of Aurora, Ill., there are numerous benefits for teens beyond a paycheck.

“Being on a summer day camp staff offers important skills in team building, leadership, problem-solving and child development,” she said.

Check out websites like American Camp Association, Summer Camp Jobs and Camp Channel for links to summer camp jobs for teens.

Test the waters of being a lifeguard

Warm summer temperatures mean that beaches, water parks and public pools around the country will be open for business. Career websites like Simply Hired have more than 1,000 summer jobs listed for lifeguards, and that’s just one site. For teens who are strong swimmers and have certifications in CPR and first aid, spending golden summer days by the ocean or pool is a slam dunk. The key is to apply now.

“These numbers are promising for those looking for employment this summer,” says Daniel Greenberg, chief marketing officer of Simply Hired.

Summer amusement at the park

Summer is the busy season for most amusement parks in the U.S., and seasonal jobs must be filled. According to Bankrate, Six Flags Great America near Chicago hires 3,200 season employees for groundskeeping, ticket sales and entertainment. Disney and other chains look to fill similar positions. Free park admission is typically a benefit of these summer jobs.

Work retail, get a mall discount

Summer hiring for retail work has begun early this year, so jump on the opportunity now. Teens hang out at the mall, so why not get paid for it? Traditionally, larger malls hire a few thousand teens for summer jobs, although the recession may force some older workers into such jobs. Learning sales and improving social skills are two benefits of mall work for teens. The customary mall discount may be more immediately appreciated, however.

Sources

Bankrate.com

CoolWorks.com

Summer Camp Jobs

Need a summer job? Try a job fair

Some salary is better than no salary at all. (Photo Credit: CC BY-SA/Kyle Lease/Flickr)

When it comes to salary, something is better than nothing. However, for the lucky few who do manage to find jobs during this recession, many are finding that what they earn today pales in comparison with what they made before they were unemployed, reports the Wall Street Journal. The nationwide wage downturn is so severe that many will never approach what they earned before, even after years of employment.

Wage downturn throws sticky wages out the window

Historically, even during some of the highest times of unemployment in U.S. history, wage downturns have been slow. Economists call these “sticky” wages. Current recession wages are far from sticky, though. Reports of educated, highly skilled workers who have been laid off, only to finally get a job that pays a fraction of what they made before – from several dollars less per hour down to something resembling minimum wage – are frighteningly common. The U.S. Department of Labor indicates that 36 percent of newly employed workers are being paid at least 20 percent less than at the jobs they lost.

Earnings losses on such a scale have only been seen twice in recent U.S. history: during the Great Depression and during the 1981-82 recession. The wage downturn the country faces now has already outpaced the latter period.

Unemployment and negative wage pressure

Now that unemployment has been more than 9 percent for the past 20 months – and experts expect it to stay that way through most of 2011 – businesses can afford to pay new employees less, as competition for jobs is high. This negative wage pressure has forced workers to either settle for less and remain there or accept the low offer and return to college to renovate their skill sets.

Desperation: A silver lining for business

While individual workers do not benefit directly from the wage downturn, Columbia University labor economist Till von Wachter argues that in theory, being able to pay lower wages makes companies more competitive by allowing them to hire more workers. Long-term, that would aid the U.S. economic recovery.

Source

Wall Street Journal

In some countries, this is what low wage protests look like

A minimum wage in seven states gets low income workers a little more pay day cash, but it's only pennies more an hour. Image: MoneyBlogNews/Flickr.com/CC-BY

A small hike in the minimum wage in several states is going to provide some workers with a little extra pay day cash. Minimum wage differs between states, as some peg the minimum wage to inflation. There are seven states raising the minimum wage.

Minimum wage going up in seven states

Seven states are raising the minimum wage by varying amounts, which means a little more pay day cash will be going to workers in those income brackets, according to USA Today. An estimated 650,000 people will get a raise of anywhere from 9 to 12 cents per hour, depending on which state they live in. Colorado, for instance, is getting an 11 cents an hour raise to $7.36 an hour. Washington state is raising the minimum wage by 17 cents, allowing the Evergreen state to maintain the highest minimum wage in the nation at $8.67 per hour, but that hardly keeps anyone from needing a loan until payday, as the raises are all due to higher prices of consumer goods.

Minimum wages vary

All states vary in how the minimum wage is set, though most use the federal minimum wage. Some states, such as Alabama or Mississippi, have no minimum wage laws. Ten states peg the minimum wage to cost of living, and seven states have seen a sufficient rise in consumer price indexes to raise it. Colorado, Arizona, Washington, Montana, Ohio, Oregon and Vermont have all legislated a little more quick cash for the lowest paid workers, though the raises are not by very much. The raises won’t mean that workers will suddenly never need installment loans ever again, but they will get a little more help.

Every little bit helps

Those who have to make a living on minimum wage do not have an easy time of things, and even a tiny increase can be a benefit. Minimum wages have been controversial for some time, and many have argued for either a radical increase or getting rid of it altogether.

Sources

USA Today

Minimum Wage in the U.S.

New York Jets cheerleaders can get away with sticking their legs out on the field, but Sal Alosi's salary suffered when he tripped an opposing player during a game. Image: CC Ed Yourdon/Flickr

Sal Alosi wasn’t thinking about his salary when he tripped an opposing player running down the sideline Sunday. The New York Jets strength coach, a former college linebacker, impulsively stuck a leg out to trip a Miami Dolphin covering a punt return. Sal Alosi’s salary took a major hit when he was fined and suspended for the rest of the season without pay for his actions.

The Sal Alosi trip

Sal Alosi’s salary as the strength and conditioning coach for the New York Jets is about $200,000, if a tweet from Jay Glazer at Fox Sports can be considered accurate. In the heat of the moment, Alosi probably wasn’t thinking about all the bills he pays with that salary or the sweet interest rate on loans he qualifies for with that kind of income. When a player for the Dolphins, a hated rival of the Jets, ran out of bounds down the sideline, he just couldn’t help himself. And now his cash flow will be severely impinged by the Sal Alosi trip. With the holidays almost here, he could take out a payday loan if it weren’t for the fact that Alosi won’t be getting anymore paydays for the rest of the season.

How bad did Sal Alosi’s trip hit his salary?

Sal Alosi’s salary of $200,000 a year is pretty good money for the average person. But in the National Football League, $200,000 a year is minimum wage. For his inexplicable lapse in judgment, which brought down more public enmity on a team already despised for its bravado, Alosi was fined $25,000 by the Jets. He was also suspended without pay for the rest of the season, which may include a playoff run and the subsequent bonuses. Sal Alosi’s salary pencils out to $12,500 a game. With three games left in the season, Alosi’s salary takes a $62,500 hit — a 31 percent pay cut. A fine from the league hasn’t been announced yet, but Alosi should expect to drain his bank account further.

Act immortalized by Sal Alosi trip video

Alosi apologized for his dirty deed. But any mea culpa for such a stupid act is too little, too late. Most people expect him to be looking for a job after the Jets lose in the playoffs and once again disappoint legions of New York football fans who believe they are entitled to greatness. “Coach trips player” is a hard search term to live down, especially when the Sal Alosi trip video is one of the hottest trends on the Internet. Sal Alosi’s salary may never recover.

The Sal Alosi trip video

Sources

Bleacher Report

Business Insider

New York Daily News

Photo from Picasa

For the first time in decades a state’s minimum wage is decreasing. Starting in January of 2010, Colorado’s hourly minimum wage will fall 3 cents, to $7.25 an hour. This is the first decrease in any state’s minimum rate since 1938, the year it was introduced. The reason for the decrease is because Colorado is one of ten states that fix their minimum wage rate to the rate of inflation. The goal is to align minimum wage pay with the cost of living. The state’s consumer price index declined by 0.6% in 2009 and that calls for the change in minimum wage.

Three cents can add up

The consumer price index for the state of Colorado was changed by lowered fuel prices. In Colorado the drop is minimal at 3 cents, but it is still cause for concern to the millions of hourly workers trying to make the most of their paychecks. Gary Foeller, a house painter in Denver, said, “Yeah—it’s only 3 cents an hour, but that 3 cents an hour adds up at the end of 12 months.” The three-penny difference is estimated to add up to about $62 a year for a worker with a 40-hour workweek. The change won’t have an effect on workers who combine hourly wages and tips like waiters, bartenders and waitresses.

The government’s response

Most Colorado officials state that though there is a change in legislation due to the consumer price index, many businesses most likely won’t be decreasing minimum wage. Though there are no official studies to substantiate the claim, Char Haavind, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment said, “We anticipate most employers will keep paying their current wage.” Throughout the state about 4% of the workers are hourly.

Employers weigh in

Despite the federal minimum wage being $7.25, most employers are reporting that the wage is not enough to keep workers. Mike Trinh, owner of a Dairy Queen in the state, said he pays his workers $8 because his research has shown that anything less, and workers won’t stay. He said, “You have to be competitive if you want them to stay on and do a good job.” The unemployment rate is not pushing people to work for minimum wage as readily as early research suggested. Rather, most people in need of work are taking lower paying jobs, but proactively looking. Trinh added, “If your wage is too low, there is no loyalty at all. The minute workers find a job offering a nickel or dime increase in pay, they leave.”

The one safeguard in minimum wage

The one safeguard in setting the minimum wage is that the federal minimum wage is $7.25 and states cannot go below that number. Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Washington all have adjustable minimum wage rates and most tie the rate to inflation. Thankfully it is the federal minimum wage that is saving people from an overall decline in wages. For example, in Florida the consumer price index is also falling, but taking down the minimum wage in line with it would mean the minimum wage rate would be $7.21, which is too low for federally accepted standards. Despite the minimum requirement, it is still up for debate on how workers will be able to manage. Foeller added, “It is impossible to make it on minimum wage now. It’s $7.25 an hour. How can you survive on that?”

Photo from Picasa

Another Sign of the Times

Just when you thought the economic news could not get much worse, news that Colorado will be dropping its minimum wage comes through. According to an Associated Press (See: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Colorados-minimum-wage-apf-3883743937.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=7&asset=&ccode=) story, the state will lower the minimum wage by 3 cents an hour this year. While this amount may seem insignificant, it takes a toll on the moral of lower paid workers, even if their bottom lines are not much lower. The change leaves workers to wonder if they will ever be able to afford any luxuries and if all of their hard work will ever get them ahead.

Why the Change?

In order to keep workers in line with inflation, Colorado and nine other states base their minimum wage around the cost of living. This method is meant shield lower paid workers from being unable to meet rising costs on necessities. Unfortunately, using this system also means that when the economy takes a dip the minimum wage falls with it too. The minimum wage in Colorado will now be $7.25 per hour, which is as low as it can go because it has now hit the federal minimum and cannot drop below that. This is small consolation for those whose already low wages will be going down. It can be tough enough knowing that you are already working for the lowest amount in the state, but for that amount to drop further can be hard on the self esteem, even if the decrease is only a few pennies per hour.

The Good News

Labor officials in the state are fairly confident that the majority of employers who pay minimum wage will continue to pay employees the previous amount. It makes sense that if some employers are maintaining wages for their employees others will follow suit. If an employer chooses to drop to the new minimum wage, he may risk losing workers to other jobs. Employers should be mindful of the fact that if they lower wages they may be unable to keep valued employees, and they will really only save a relatively small amount of money. While the wage difference is not overly significant to a worker’s end result, being forced to take a decrease can make an employee feel undervalued and create a rift between employees and employers.

Buying some Good Will

If an employer is willing and able to pay just a few cents more than his competitors it can certainly create a more harmonious workplace. Employees tend to feel valued and appreciated and are more likely to remain loyal to the company when they make a little more than others in the same field. The slightly higher wage can bring a sense of pride and cause workers to want to put in more effort. Particularly in today’s economy, no one wants to be out looking for a new job, so if an employee is relatively satisfied with her position she will likely stick around. Paying a little bit more can help keep employees around and keep them happy.

There is Help if You Need it

If you are one of the many who is working a minimum wage or part time job right now it can be tough to make ends meet. Sometimes unexpected costs come up before payday. In such a case it may be a good idea to look into a payday loan for some quick cash to get you through.