HOW A SLOW ECONOMY IMPACTS THE SUMMER JOB MARKET
For many students, finding a summer job is the only way that they will be able to make it through the following year at college or university. When there are no jobs available, students could face not being able to continue with their education unless they take out high-interest student loans. The loans may be interest free for up to two years, but if they are not paid off in full by then, the interest is charged on the full amount, and paying back loans on a course that a student could not finish due to financial restraints goes against the moral fabric of this nation.
How a slow economy impacts the job market is by saturating the job market with unemployed home makers. So many companies that are looking for a few employees would rather hire someone who is facing losing their home than a student. The slow economy means that there are fewer jobs available, for more students, since many factories and businesses that normally would hire a bunch of students for the summer months are no longer in business.
The jobs that are put aside for students by many companies, like in road construction, new home construction, restaurants, hotels and outdoors-related, low-paying jobs have hundreds, even thousands of students applying for them. The real problem here is that these companies can afford to be picky, and will hire the students that either have direct related experience, or are taking a course that would benefit the company in the long run, if the student were to graduate and stay on with them.
With so many factories and businesses closing down, a lot of people have lost high-paying jobs, and have had to replace them with two or three not so well-paying jobs. After enjoying years at a high paying job, many families took out mortgages on new family homes, and now that the economy is in a downturn, they are out of work, and they have to struggle to make their mortgage and utility payments. And let’s face it, there is not exactly a line-up of people looking to pay full value for homes right now, so selling their homes would garner a great financial loss.
Students are now faced with vying for jobs against people with years of directly related experience within the field of the job that the student is applying for. Students applying for jobs against people who graduated from Ivy League schools in the related industry have little chance of landing the job, unless they know someone at the company, or the company is involved in a government-run student placement program.
A slow economy impacts the summer job market by diminishing that market. Summer jobs are slowly disappearing, and are being replaced by variable-term, or seasonal employment, where the employees can take out unemployment insurance while not working. These companies have to hire the people who were let go for seasonal purposes before hiring students.
The most impact-full way that the economy is hurting the summer job market for students is that the students now have to work all year long, working part-time, at evenings and weekends during the school year, just to ensure full-time employment during the summer months.
