Cape Cod summer jobs are back for teens as labor market tighteners

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

Teenagers are running the show in small businesses across the Cape this summer at local restaurants, ice cream shops, miniature golf courses, and camps.

For business owners, hiring teens is a way to bring in seasonal workers without worrying about them finding housing in a tight market, which leaves many prospective temporary employers with nowhere to live. For teens, it’s a way to make decent money as they save up for college or pay bills.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Economic Research, the labor participation rate of 16- to19-year-olds hit 39.3 percent in June, the highest rate since 2015, when it was 41.6 percent.

Nationally, the labor force participation rate of 16- to 19-year-olds hit 37.4 percent in June, the highest rate since 2009, which saw 38.5 percent, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

There was once a time when closer to 70 percent of teens worked a job. But numbers have fallen since the 1970s and 1980s.

“It’s a reversal of the trend that we’ve been seeing for a really long time,” said Andrew Challenger, the senior vice president of global outplacement and executive and business coach at Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.

Recently, teenagers have opted for internships, volunteer work, or other career opportunities in the summer over traditional jobs. However, since wages have increased for the entry-level jobs teenagers typically work, Challenger said, there is more incentive to take a job over an unpaid one.

“Teenagers and families need that extra cash more than they have because of the inflation occurring,” said Challenger. “So many teenagers might be getting those jobs to help out their families to save partially for college, or they want some spending money over the summer and there’s no other way for them to get it.”

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

But Niedzwiecki believes there is something else going on, too. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the population buying second homes tends to be younger, in their 40s. He thinks that means more families bringing working-age kids with them to spend the summer on the Cape.

Also, communities such as Barnstable, Yarmouth, Dennis, Bourne, and Falmouth are becoming more diverse with more younger people, bringing more potential teen workers.

“I think it’s a combination of factors,” Niedzwiecki said. “Let’s face it, Cape Cod isn’t a bad place to spend your summers if you do have to work.”

Many local businesses are now fully staffed, and they say they received far more applications from teens than they could fill.

Stacie Peugh, chief executive of YMCA Cape Cod, said the YMCA in Barnstable opened with 24 teens this summer, almost double from last year. In addition, local job fairs were better attended than in the past.

Andrew Murphy, who owns the Peacemaker as well as The Lost Dog Pubs in Dennis and Orleans, said he, too, has noticed more teenagers applying for work this summer.

“A couple of years ago, we couldn’t find anyone to work,” said Murphy, who employs upwards of 30 teens throughout his establishments. But now, he says, “the kids are looking to make money, and that’s great.”

Lou Nickinello, owner of Skull Island, which offers mini-golf, go-karts, and batting cages, says he has 34 teens, mostly under 18, working for him this summer.

“They have to make 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 making some money. We can’t keep giving you all your spending money, their allowances.”

Nickinello said at least half of his teen workers have second jobs.

With high inflation, Nickinello said, “it becomes more necessary for young people who want money in their pocket.”

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

It helps her pay her own way through Cape Cod Community College and helps her single mother pay living expenses as well.

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