What Does Hiring Teens Mean For The Future Of Work?

• When young people have opportunities to build workforce skills, create a network, and understand the power of mentoring, communities and society grows and thrives.  
• Giving young people the opportunity to work and contribute to society has numerous positive benefits; teenagers gain valuable experience at their first jobs, which then translates to the higher-level jobs they will get in the future.  
• If employers want to fill staffing shortages and prep the next generation for the workforce, they could increase or begin their engagement in education. 

We are currently experiencing an unprecedented labor shortage, and teenagers are increasingly in high demand to fill these shortages. 

Both larger and smaller businesses are experiencing significant or moderate staffing challenges. As a result, many are hiking pay, offering bonuses, and lowering their age requirements. 

In fact, teens between the ages of 15 and 19 account for 13% of all hires in the retail sector as of October 2021.  

Part of what’s causing more teenagers to get hired is their availability and their willingness to take the jobs that other adults are not rushing into at the moment. 

By hiring teens, companies can help to create a future-fit workforce.  

Giving teens jobs now has a positive impact on the future of work 

The benefits of early entry to the workforce are symbiotic; young people gain valuable experience, and businesses help develop the next generation of talent on which their own growth relies upon. 

When young people have opportunities to build workforce skills, create a network, and understand the power of mentoring, communities and society as a whole thrives.  

Providing employment opportunities is a straight-forward way for corporations to positively impact the lives of young people and the professional pools that companies will continue to pull from.  

Even teenagers themselves think that employment helps them to develop a wide range of beneficial attributes, such as the capacity to take responsibility, develop time-management skills, and handle money.  

Studies show that teens who work and go to school fair better in the adult job market  

Studies have shown that students who enter the workforce early are more likely to obtain quality, higher paying jobs later in life, often causing a positive ripple effect on wealth creation through improved financial literacy and the motivation to save and invest.  

Longitudinal studies in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States commonly show that teenagers who combine full-time study with part-time work can expect to do better in the adult job market than would be expected, given their backgrounds and academic qualifications.  

What are some reasons to hire teens to impact the future of work? 

1. Companies can save money. Because teenagers typically work part-time, entities that employ them can save money on benefits, and might even be able to claim a tax credit for employing teenagers. Hiring teen workers can reduce payroll costs, in part because of the youth minimum wage and in part because they are less experienced employees and would receive starting levels of pay. (Note: just because you can pay a teenager a wage lower than the federal minimum wage for a period doesn’t mean you necessarily should). 
2. Younger employees can bring a fresh perspective. Many companies today use a reverse-mentoring philosophy in which young workers share perspectives with older ones, on topics such as social media and crowdsourcing. 
3. Youth employment keeps crime down. Employing teens has proven to be useful in assisting them to be ready for the world’s job market, as well as boost their self-esteem and develop soft skills. It’s also been seen that youth employment has reduced the number of crimes in communities. 
4. Hiring youths creates a future-fit workforce. Giving young people the opportunity to work and contribute to society has numerous positive benefits. Teenagers gain valuable experience at their first jobs, which then translates to the higher-level jobs they will get in the future.  

Are young people prepared for the future of work? 

Approximately 56% of young people know what they want to do for work in the future, however they do not feel supported by their education system. Even more, 44% fear that their skills or knowledge won’t be in demand in the future.  

Research shows that while young people have a positive outlook on their ability to find a job and are aware of the challenges they face when entering the workforce, they feel unprepared for work.  

Business is often critical about learning systems not providing workers with the right skills for market demands, so it is beneficial for employers to participate at a much earlier stage of a student’s education.  

This would allow for a better chance in preparing young people for the future of work, as well as employers hiring teens and giving them their first work experience. 

Employers can help to prepare teens for the labor market 

If employers want to fill staffing shortages and prep the next generation for the workforce, they should increase or begin their engagement in education. 

This includes activities like careers-insights talks, career/job fairs, enterprise competitions, mentoring, workplace visits, job shadowing, and short work placements that enable young people to interact with private, public, and third-sector employers and their employees.