Spring Break
A summer what?
Issue date: 7/23/08 Section: Forum
So, it's summer and some students might be lucky enough to have a summer job- and yes, having a job is good. A job means money and experience, which are both needed to get better jobs in the future.
However, many other students might not be so lucky to have found a job to fill up their free time, or they are so busy trying to pack as many credits as they can into summer that they do not have time for a job.
In any case, as you might have noticed, employment is scarce lately.
Finding a summer job, whether here in Corvallis or in other parts of the state, has been devastating to many this year.
A lucky few applied early to specialty internships that pay, kept a job they've had in the past or had an in with a family friend who got them a job.
However, a large portion of students have found that landing an entirely new job was and is simply impossible this summer. Sure, one would assume that with students leaving for the three-month vacation, there would be plenty of job openings, but the population of Corvallis drastically drops and there is no need for those jobs to be filled until the school year. The businesses win while the students, probably spending money in taking summer classes, are suffering.
Yet there is another problem that people in general, not only students, have when it comes to getting a job. People are not jobless due to their incompetence or total lack of experience, although these might be part of the problem. No, a big reason is that E word we keep hearing too much of lately - the Economy.
The economy has declined so much in the United States that it is beginning to affect businesses that usually hire young people for seasonal work.
Why?
People are spending less at big retailers, causing the stores to lose money and with it their ability to hire more employees. So even if you have the ability to leave Corvallis in hopes that a big business will hire you, chances are that you are out of luck there too.
It's a vicious cycle.
According to a Northeastern University Center for Labor Market Studies research paper written this July, June's 37.1 percent employment rate (of the nations' teens) was the lowest ever recorded over the past 60 years. This teen employment rate was 28 percent below where it was in June of 2000.
This is huge. Of course when the term "teen" is used you might not put college students into this category, but the average age of first-year students is 18. If they are working during the summer while on a break from school, it might just be to pay for the outrageous price of school, yet the fact that they are going to school doesn't matter.
Fair? No. So what can we do to change this?
However, many other students might not be so lucky to have found a job to fill up their free time, or they are so busy trying to pack as many credits as they can into summer that they do not have time for a job.
In any case, as you might have noticed, employment is scarce lately.
Finding a summer job, whether here in Corvallis or in other parts of the state, has been devastating to many this year.
A lucky few applied early to specialty internships that pay, kept a job they've had in the past or had an in with a family friend who got them a job.
However, a large portion of students have found that landing an entirely new job was and is simply impossible this summer. Sure, one would assume that with students leaving for the three-month vacation, there would be plenty of job openings, but the population of Corvallis drastically drops and there is no need for those jobs to be filled until the school year. The businesses win while the students, probably spending money in taking summer classes, are suffering.
Yet there is another problem that people in general, not only students, have when it comes to getting a job. People are not jobless due to their incompetence or total lack of experience, although these might be part of the problem. No, a big reason is that E word we keep hearing too much of lately - the Economy.
The economy has declined so much in the United States that it is beginning to affect businesses that usually hire young people for seasonal work.
Why?
People are spending less at big retailers, causing the stores to lose money and with it their ability to hire more employees. So even if you have the ability to leave Corvallis in hopes that a big business will hire you, chances are that you are out of luck there too.
It's a vicious cycle.
According to a Northeastern University Center for Labor Market Studies research paper written this July, June's 37.1 percent employment rate (of the nations' teens) was the lowest ever recorded over the past 60 years. This teen employment rate was 28 percent below where it was in June of 2000.
This is huge. Of course when the term "teen" is used you might not put college students into this category, but the average age of first-year students is 18. If they are working during the summer while on a break from school, it might just be to pay for the outrageous price of school, yet the fact that they are going to school doesn't matter.
Fair? No. So what can we do to change this?
Note: writers will not reply to comments.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
hypercube
posted 7/25/08 @ 12:53 PM PST
There's a lot of editorial here -- and there's a lot going on now domestically here and there to change the business cycles so they can be one healthy lifecycle of opportunity, change and income for all of us and not one of negative values, condescending behavior and perpetual debt over income. (Continued…)
Xarroc
posted 7/29/08 @ 2:30 PM PST
I thought just the opposite. I have been working at this job 10 hour shifts every day. I am so burnt out, but I have to work to earn money for colledge. (Continued…)
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