Cape Cod summer jobs return for teens as job market tightens

“I don’t have any friends who don’t have jobs,” said Stuehmer, a recent graduate of Nauset Regional High School.

This summer, teens are ruling small businesses across the Cape: local restaurants, ice cream parlors, mini-golf courses and camps.

For business owners, hiring teens is a way to bring in seasonal workers without worrying about housing in a tight market that leaves many potential temporary employers without a place to live. For teens, it’s a way to earn some decent money while they save for college or pay bills.

The labor force participation rate for 16- to 19-year-olds was 39.3 percent in June, the highest since 2015, when it was 41.6 percent, according to the Massachusetts Department of Economic Research.

Nationwide, the labor force participation rate for people ages 16 to 19 was 37.4 percent in June, the highest since 2009, when it was 38.5 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

There was once a time when nearly 70 percent of teens worked. But those numbers have declined since the 1970s and 1980s.

“This is a reversal of a trend we’ve been seeing for a long time,” said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of global outplacement, business and executive consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.

Recently, teens have been choosing internships, volunteering or other career opportunities during the summer instead of traditional jobs. But, Challenger said, because wages have risen for entry-level jobs that teens typically fill, there is a greater incentive to work than unpaid work.

“Teens and families need that extra cash more than they have because of inflation,” Challenger said. “So many teens may be taking these jobs to help their families save some money for college, or they want to have some money to spend in the summer and there’s no other way to get it.”

Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce CEO Paul Niedzwiecki said Cape Cod is a “really hot, seasonal economy” that has depleted traditional sources of labor, such as the J-1 and H-2B visa programs that typically fill seasonal gaps in the economy.

But Niedzwiecki believes there’s something else going on. The post-COVID-19 population of second-home buyers is skewing younger, in their 40s. He thinks that means more families are bringing their working-age children to spend their summers on the Cape.

Additionally, communities like Barnstable, Yarmouth, Dennis, Bourne and Falmouth are becoming more diverse as their population grows, attracting more potential teenage workers.

“I think it’s a combination of factors,” Niedzwiecki said. “Let’s face it, Cape Cod is not a bad place to spend the summer if you have to work.”

Many local businesses are already fully staffed, but say they have received far more applications from teens than they have been able to fill.

Stacie Peugh, executive director of the Cape Cod YMCA, said the Barnstable YMCA opened this summer with 24 teens, nearly double the number from last year. In addition, local job fairs have been more well-attended than in the past.

Andrew Murphy, owner of the Peacemaker and The Lost Dog Pubs in Dennis and Orleans, said he, too, has noticed an increase in teens applying for jobs this summer.

“A few years ago, we couldn’t find anyone to work,” said Murphy, who employs more than 30 teenagers at his plants. But now, he says, “the kids want to make money, and that’s great.”

Lou Nickinello, owner of Skull Island, which offers miniature golf, go-karts and baseball, says he has 34 teenagers working for him this summer, mostly under 18.

“They have to earn money for all the necessities of life,” said Nickinello, who opened Skull Island in 1961. “You get to a certain age and your parents say you have to start earning money. We can’t keep giving you all your spending money, their allowance.”

Nickinello said at least half of his teenage employees have second jobs.

As Nickinello said, with inflation high, “it’s becoming more and more necessary for young people to have money in their pockets.”

Caelan Potter, 19, is a manager at Hot Chocolate Sparrow in Orleans. She started working there six years ago and says the year-round job is a necessity.

It helps her pay for tuition at Cape Cod Community College and helps her single mother with living expenses.

“I pay for my own college,” Potter said. “I pay for my own bills.”