Students struggle to find summer jobs

After filling out more than 40 applications, both paper and online, Lynsey Becher, a senior from Hutchison, still hadn’t landed a summer job. Becher started two weeks before spring classes let out, looking for jobs she had experience in, such as retail and nanny positions.

But Becher kept getting the same response from employers. They weren’t hiring until the end of the summer.

“I would have thought it would have been easier to find a job in the summer,” Becher said, “but apparently not.”

This is a change from years past. Summer is typically the time when the amount of jobs held by students spikes. This July, however, the U.S. Department of Labor reported only 48.8 percent of people between 16 and 24 years old had jobs. Just five years ago, that number was 59.2 percent.

Kate Blocker, co-owner of Express Employment Professionals, a company that provides temporary, contract and direct-hire job placement, 1000 Iowa St., said the economy has something to do with it.

Lawrence, like the rest of the Midwest, was not hit as hard by the recession as the rest of the country, but Blocker says some employers are still weary of hiring. A lot of factors contribute to this, but employers are looking for flexibility in students’ schedules.

Jean Milstead, interim vice president of economic development for the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, said the unemployment rate in Lawrence is at 5.3 percent, which is still below the national rate of 8.2 percent. Milstead said Lawrence is usually below 3 percent.

The first week of July, Becher found a job at a babysitting agency. She actually pays the babysitting agency a small fee to find work for her, and there hasn’t been much.

“It’s one of those things where you don’t get work if nobody needs a babysitter,” Becher said.

Becher plans to resume her on-campus job in the theatre department once the fall semester begins, but until then, it’s a waiting game.

Edited by Megan Hinman

• Updated Jul. 17, 2012 at 6:02 pm