Red-hot summer job market awaits U.S. teens as employers sweat

The US is in a strange situation - the inflation is being stoked not because of lack of demand like in a stagnating economy, but rather because of lack of supply

The demand is there - it's a job-seeker's market. It's the "Great Resignation" - workers are quitting their jobs they don't like because they can choose and find another job they like better

raise salaries even more and improve working conditions.

Or allow more immigrants into the country.

A side effect of a booming economy.

$900 saved in a summer? That isn't someone serious about working. That's just 130 hours at $10/hr

It says saved $900, not earned $900. Presumably a teenager has lots of things to spend his money on, and while earning and spending, he also managed to save.

$900 saved in a summer? That isn't someone serious about working. That's just 130 hours at $10/hr, which isn't too hard to get around here at fast food places. Back in the early 1980s I was earning over $4K per summer doing farm work - detassling corn. We'd be taken to the fields on a bus around 4:30am and work until mid-afternoon. Sure, it was hot, dusty, dirty work, but if you work hard, there's plenty of money to be made. There were girls doing the same work too.

That was when the minimum wage was $3.35/hr - though we weren't paid minimum wage for that work. Harder work, pays more, when it is unskilled.

In college, during the summer, I'd work loading trucks with PVC pipes and fittings for shipping nationwide. They staffed up in summer due to more construction demands, basically doubling the shipping staff every summer.

During the school year, in high school, I worked 2-12hr shifts on weekends washing dishes - that was about $70/week ... $1120/semester after taxes.

My girlfriend worked in a bank every afternoon as a teller. She made much more money. She wasn't planning on college. I was.

Working at an ice cream stand may be more fun, but it doesn't pay much.

Good. This will improve economic equality.

Lower supply of labor / higher demand is good for increasing wages.

"Labor shortages" are usually a lie invented by employers and shareholders to create conditions to lower wages and increase their profits.

It says saved $900, not earned $900. Presumably a teenager has lots of things to spend his money on, and while earning and spending, he also managed to save.

True. Perhaps I was a better saver than most teens. Plus, I paid for my college using savings and jobs and scholarships. I was saving 80% of my earnings and spending 20% (after tax).

As an adult, my savings percentage started low - the 6% matched in the retirement plan by the company, but grew and grew to over 50% of earnings with most of that not going into retirement plans/investments. We've always lived below our means. It is a habit.

Guessing some of these jobs will be filled by undocumented illegal immigrants ... In the future maybe all fast food will be outsourced to big unregistered food processing plants staffed by the illegals ....kind of a Pollos Hetmanos for fast food