In this struggling economy it’s hard enough to find a job alone, but it is even harder for teenagers since they are inexperienced. When a student hits the age of 16 they are really limited to how many jobs they can apply for.

“Finding a job is much more difficult than most teens think. Most employers don’t hire teenagers so it’s really hard to get a job,” an anonymous person states who is 16 and has a job. There are more and more companies that are requiring a person to be 18 or older, some even 21. This is due to the fact that they want their employees to be more mature, built, and capable of doing the tasks they expect to be done.

A recent study shows that the number of employed teens has dropped since 2000, from 45 out of 100 teens in 2000 to 26 out of 100 in 2009. There are many different factors that have caused this drastic decrease including this dreadful economy, lack of skills and maturity, and the responsibility that comes with the job.

According to a recent study, about 70% of all employed teens work in three industries; retail, entertainment, and recreation. So only a few of the teens employed are lucky enough to have a job of their own. This is a critical time in a teen’s life when they need to start making money, but in times like these it’s not working very well.

Teens are not the only ones suffering from this economy. In March of 2010, the unemployment rate for adults increased to 9.7%. There have been many people who have been laid off because companies could not afford to pay them, fired because they went out of business since no one would make them any money, and they would keep searching for more job offers.

The current teen employment rate is about 25%. But that number will continue to go down for many years. “I am extremely grateful for my job because it’s very difficult for people to get a job as it is and being that I am a teenager the likelihood of me finding a job was slim,” says the anonymous person.