Youths Can Make Short Work of Summertime Job Hunt, Employers Say
It’s a seller’s market for summer jobs this year.
Young people who want to pick up a little extra spending loot will have no trouble finding work--especially if they don’t mind sweeping up, serving or selling.
Consider that a survey by the temporary agency Manpower Inc. shows that 31% of county employers plan to add workers this summer. And, likewise, 31% of the nation’s employers plan to add workers this summer, according to the agency. That indicates a record number of employees will be hired for July, August and September since the summer of 1978.
The shortage is doubly severe because of the county’s cellar-level jobless rate. Unemployment here in April hovered at 2.9%, the second-lowest rate in the state and one of the lowest in the nation.
“It’s real tough,” said Stuart Zanville, spokesman for Knott’s Berry Farm, which adds more than 1,000 seasonal workers during its peak season from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
“I don’t of know any fast-food chains--and probably any retail (company) at all--that isn’t looking for bodies,” agreed Constance A. Grady, training manager for the Southwest division of Kentucky Fried Chicken National Management Co.
Of course, youths who would rather get tips by rubbing shoulders at a fancy club--instead of fenders at the local carwash--will find the summer job hunt much tougher. The big competition is for those coveted posts that pay better than minimum wage.
Some of the jobs that are in demand include secretarial posts that pay $7 an hour, painter’s helpers and sportfishing deckhands for $9 an hour and construction workers who can rake in $12 an hour.
The Santa Ana-based Private Industry Council, working with the Orange County Private Industry Council, hopes to place 1,000 youths--more than 60% of them disadvantaged--with about 300 private employers this summer, said Judy La Deaux, council operations manager.
“Companies very, very badly need people. We’re in a market right now that is really an employee’s market,” La Deaux said.
To help meet its goal, the council--which is the governing board for all Job Training Partnership Agency programs--held a luncheon Wednesday to kick off its summer “Hire-a-Youth” program. More than 300 prospective employers heard a pitch by city officials and California Angels catcher Bob Boone to hire youths.
The free service screens youths, then sends them to companies that have summer and permanent jobs. By July 16, the council also will have held six job fairs in Santa Ana to help employers connect with youths who need jobs.
Employers who came to hear about the program included Osco Drugs, Kentucky Fried Chicken and MainPlace/Santa Ana shopping mall.
In addition to the boost vacationing young consumers give to local businesses, Orange County “is very tourist-oriented. So business goes up in the summer,” said Judith Bijlani, marketing director for MainPlace/Santa Ana. Some businesses--such as Kentucky Fried Chicken--are constantly on the prowl for new workers because of an annual turnover rate of about 100%, Grady said.
One plus for young job-seekers will be the increase in the state minimum wage, which will climb from $3.35 to $4.25 an hour on July 1.
Even so, the average wage for the Hire-a-Youth program was $5.20 an hour last summer, La Deaux said. “And a lot are paying $5.25 to $5.75.”
