Dad said get a job and teens listened: June sets record

More than 1 million teens in the U.S. found jobs in June, the largest increase in teen summer job gains since 2007.

After a below-average performance in May, more than 1 million workers ages 16 to 19 landed jobs, according to the latest analysis by firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Employment among teens decreased in May to just 75,000. That is nearly 52 percent lower than the 156,000 job gains in May 2016, and the lowest summer-month total since May 2011, when just 71,000 job gains were recorded, the firm found.

“June typically averages the most job gains of the summer months, with well over 700,000 jobs added on average since 2006, but these are some of the strongest numbers we’ve seen since the recovery,” said John Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

» RELATED: Despite retail job loss, teen employment making a comeback

The June surge is 48 percent higher than the same month last year, when nearly 700,000 jobs were added, and 126 percent higher than the gains in May. It is the highest June total since 2007, when 1,114,000 jobs were gained among the age group.

Some economic experts believed retail closures would impact teen employment, but the firm doesn’t believe it has. Challenger has tracked over 5,000 announced closures of retail locations since January 2017.

“While May gains were lower than average this year, June’s more than offset that pace. It seems the recent decline of brick-and-mortar retail locations has not subdued hiring among teens,” said Challenger.

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