The summer job isn’t what it used to be for teenagers, but new federal employment data suggests the decades-long decline may finally be showing signs of reversing — a trend with particular relevance in New York, where restaurants, tourism businesses, camps and retailers depend heavily on seasonal workers.
About 35.5% of Americans ages 16 to 19 held paying jobs during at least part of summer 2026, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of federal labor data. That’s up from 33.8% last summer and represents roughly 6.2 million working teenagers nationwide during June and July.
It’s still nowhere close to the era when a summer job was practically a rite of passage. More than half of American teens regularly worked during the summer as recently as 2000, and the rate peaked at 58% in 1978.
But this summer’s increase is notable because it came despite predictions of a particularly difficult job market for teenagers and while fewer teens overall were actively looking for work.
For New York, where seasonal employment is woven into economies ranging from the Finger Lakes and Adirondacks to the Catskills and Long Island, the national trend raises a broader question: Is the teenage summer worker starting to come back?
Restaurants, hotels and stores remain the biggest employers
The industries employing the most teenagers nationally look familiar to anyone watching summer hiring across Upstate New York.
Accommodation and food services accounted for 32% of employed teenagers this summer, according to Pew’s analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data. About 2 million teens worked at hotels, motels, resorts, restaurants, snack stands and similar businesses during June and July.
Retail accounted for another 21%, employing nearly 1.3 million teenagers.
Together, those two industries employed more than half of all working teens.
The occupational data tells a similar story. Food preparation and serving jobs employed about 1.5 million teenagers, representing 25% of working teens, while another 1.1 million, or 18%, worked in sales.
Those sectors have an outsized presence in many New York communities during the summer, particularly those dependent on tourism, recreation and seasonal visitors. Restaurants, ice cream shops, hotels, campgrounds, attractions and retailers frequently need additional workers at essentially the same time teenagers are out of school.
New York also operates workforce programs designed to connect younger residents with employers. The state’s Youth Jobs Program is open to eligible workers ages 16 to 24 and offers participating businesses tax credits that can reach $7,500 for qualifying hires. The program, originally launched in 2012 in targeted areas, has since expanded statewide and is authorized through 2027. (Department of Labor)
The state’s Summer Youth Employment Program provides another route into the workforce, placing eligible young people at public, private and nonprofit worksites including parks, summer camps, childcare organizations, cultural institutions and community organizations. (Department of Labor)
Summer jobs remain far less common than a generation ago
Even with the 2026 increase, the larger trend hasn’t disappeared.
Teen summer employment began falling sharply after the dot-com bust and declined further during the Great Recession. By summers 2010 and 2011, just 29.6% of 16- to 19-year-olds were working — fewer than 5 million teenagers on average.
Another decline came during the COVID-19 pandemic. Teen employment fell to 30.8% in summer 2020 as restaurants, stores, recreational facilities and tourist attractions closed or reduced operations.
Employment rebounded in 2021 and 2022 as restrictions disappeared before slipping again over the next three summers. The increase to 35.5% this year therefore represents a change in direction, although two months of data isn’t enough to establish a lasting reversal.
There are also significant differences within the teenage workforce.
Nearly half of 18- and 19-year-olds — 48% — worked this summer, compared with just 24% of 16- and 17-year-olds.
Employment rates also varied significantly by race and ethnicity. Pew found 39% of White teens were working this summer, compared with 28% of Hispanic teens, 27% of Black teens and 21% of Asian teens.
New York puts additional rules around teen employment
For New York employers, hiring teenagers also comes with requirements that don’t apply to adult workers.
Young people ages 14 through 17 generally need working papers to hold a job in New York. The state plans to move that process online in 2027, replacing the existing paper system with a digital portal connecting young workers and employers. (Department of Labor)
New York also restricts the hours minors can work. When school isn’t in session, workers under 18 generally cannot work more than eight hours per day or six days per week. Fourteen- and 15-year-olds are limited to 40 hours per week, while 16- and 17-year-olds can work up to 48 hours. (Department of Labor)
The rules become more restrictive once school resumes, which can complicate staffing for businesses whose busy season stretches into September or later.
Those restrictions are part of what the state Department of Labor describes as one of the country’s strictest child labor frameworks. (Department of Labor)
Why did teenagers stop working as much?
There isn’t one explanation for the long-term decline.
Pew points to several structural changes. There are fewer traditional entry-level positions such as sales clerk and office assistant jobs than there once were. School calendars have also changed, with some districts ending later in June and beginning before Labor Day.
Teenagers are spending their summers differently, too. More students take summer classes, perform volunteer service for graduation or college applications, or pursue unpaid internships that don’t appear in federal employment statistics.
That means the decline isn’t necessarily evidence that teenagers simply stopped wanting jobs. The labor market and the way young people prepare for college and careers have changed substantially since summer employment peaked nearly 50 years ago.
There are signs the types of jobs available are changing as well.
Transportation and material-moving occupations employed an average of 701,000 teenagers nationally this summer, or 11% of working teens. That’s up from 539,000, or 9%, last summer.
Office and administrative employment moved in the opposite direction, falling from 563,000 teens last summer to 449,000 this year.
For New York employers, particularly in communities where restaurants, tourism and retail remain important pieces of the local economy, the more immediate finding is simpler: Teenagers haven’t returned to the summer workforce at anything resembling the levels seen a generation ago, but 2026 is moving in the opposite direction.
After years of decline, the summer job may be showing some life again.
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