Thousands of teens are revitalizing the part-time job market. It is a significant shift for Gen Z, with an increasing number of them seeking after-school and summer jobs, "reversing a trend of forgoing work when millennials were teens," The Washington Post said in a recent analysis.
At least 250,000 more teens are working compared to before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Post's analysis of Labor Department data. The wave of teen applicants is boosting employment for restaurants and retail stores and "changing cultural norms," said the Post. The recent uptick breaks a pattern of more than four decades of declines in teen employment.
"When the labor market is tight, more teens work," Elizabeth Ananat, an economics professor at Barnard College, told the Post. "When teens hear there are jobs available, they take the jobs."
In the background lurked an ominous surge of child labor violations in 2023, a shift The Washington Post said was fueled by fast food companies illegally scheduling thousands of teens to work long, late hours. Some states are nonetheless loosening local mandates to allow teens to work longer hours.
Florida 16- and 17-year-olds are a step closer to being allowed to surpass 40 work hours during the school week after the Florida House passed a Republican-backed bill. Critics are calling the legislation a "child labor" bill that would "walk back decades of laws protecting children and preventing them from working overly long hours," the Tallahassee Democrat said. | 
