LANSING – Michigan teens may have a fractionally easier time of searching for a job in the summer of 2014 than they did a year ago, but it will still be a tough market for those looking for work, says a forecast on the job market by the state.
The forecast, released Monday by the Department of Technology, Management and Budget, projected that the teen unemployment rate in Michigan during the summer would be 26.5 percent.
Even at that high rate, the state forecast is a touch more optimistic than the 26.1 percent teen unemployment rate the state saw in 2013.
The state’s job market for teenagers is still struggling following the Great Recession, which began in 2008, the state forecast said.
The forecast projected that some 248,000 teenagers will look for work during the summer, and that 178,400 would find work, leaving 64,300 without a job.
The labor participation rate for teens this summer is expected to be in the mid-40 percent range. In 2013, it stood at 46 percent (nationally, it was 40.7 percent).
In the early years of the 21st century, however, the labor participation rate for teens in Michigan was as high as 66.1 percent. While it declined because of the state’s overall economic problems, it still stood at 56.5 percent in 2007 before the start of the Great Recession.
State officials urged young people seeking jobs to begin their search early, to keep looking, to talk local businesses, to use family and friends as a network, and, if need be, to consider self-employment (such as mowing lawns or pet sitting).
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