EDITORIAL: Here’s how to price teenagers out of the job market

The summer job, for decades a stepping stone toward adulthood and independence, may be going the way of the VCR for a great many teens. Progressive efforts to outlaw many entry-level jobs aren’t helping.

The New York Times reported last week that the unemployment rate for teens hit 13.4 percent in May, up a full percentage point from a year previous. The increase is in contrast to overall jobless rates, which have remained relatively flat since the pandemic spike. Nevada’s teen unemployment rate was 14.2 percent in February 2023.

“Teenagers across the country are entering one of the toughest summer job markets in recent years,” The Times noted, “as traditional summer jobs at restaurants, amusement parks, pools and stores either pause new hiring or choose adults for these jobs.”

The report cites a handful of potential factors, including automation, a decline in tourism and an “uncertainty about the economy” brought about by President Donald Trump’s “tariff policies.” Missing from the speculation is any mention of rising minimum wage mandates sought by leftist activists.

Consider California, which for more than a year has demanded that the fast-food industry — often a teen’s a first taste of work experience — pay employees at least $20 an hour. A paper published this month by the National Bureau of Economic Research concludes that the policy has cost the industry about 18,000 jobs in the Golden State and led to a decline in employment. California fast-food employers have also cut back on hours for many workers. In addition, higher minimum wages have only hastened the rush to automation.

This is predictable. A recent analysis by Bryant University on teen jobless trends in the New England states from 2002-2019 found that “increasing state minimum wages was found to have a negative impact on teen employment” in each state. A 2021 paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research analyzing years of research on the subject concluded, “In its totality, this body of evidence and conclusions points strongly toward negative effects of minimum wages on employment of less-skilled workers.”

The idea that the typical minimum wage earner is a head of household trying to support a partner and two children is an enduring myth. “The reality is,” noted Erin Shannon of the Washington Policy Center, “the majority of minimum wage earners are in fact young, work part time, have never been married and live at home.”

A summer job for an inexperienced teen is a path toward maturity and a vital means of developing the habits and skills needed to become a productive adult. When progressive central planners push for unrealistic minimum wage hikes, the inconvenient truth is that they’re excluding more and more young people from the job market.