Scooping ice cream, lifeguarding swimming pools, and restocking retail stores during the summer has long been teenagers’ rite of passage. For most, it’s the first time they build real-world skills and earn their own pocket change. But now, teens are up against the worst summer job market since the Great Recession. Landing a job at the back of a mom-and-pop shop feels almost as hard as scoring a full-time corporate role.
“I didn’t know it was going to be this hard. I thought it was going to be quite easy. And with all the applications I sent through, I feel a bit discouraged,” Simon Chow, a 17-year-old who spent months applying to dozens of summer gigs, tells Fortune. “I’m looking everywhere, and I’ll take anything at this point.”
