<p>Reading the post about the son who lied about having a summer job at Sears made me think of this article from today's New York Times. Of course that young man was trying pull a fast one, but I do have sympathy for kids his age. In this economy, the odds are against teens who want to work in the summer to make money for college expenses:</p>
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It is an archetypal American story, the summer job that helps a teenager save for a car, clothes or college, that provides a first taste of the workaday world and sometimes even a crucial steppingstone.</p>
<p>But the venerable rite is also an endangered one: between a historic decline in short-term jobs for teenagers and the listing economy, only one in four youths ages 16 to 19 is expected to find work this summer, made more difficult for low-income teens by shrinking federal job subsidies. In 2000, by comparison, 45 percent of teenagers worked, according to Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University.
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<p>Tales</a> of the Search for a Summer Job - NYTimes.com</p>
<p>If you think finding a summer job is hard in the USA, it’s even worse here in the less-developed world. My 16 y-o DS has managed to find a part time summer job in a factory, two days a week at about 12.00 US per day. Try saving 24.00 per week to buy anything. That’s like working for two weeks to be able to buy a pair of GAP jeans from the warehouse outlet 
To be fair, it’s not hard work like sweeping floors or sitting at a sewing machine all day long, and the experience may even serve him well on his college application.</p>
<p>I was just thinking today about the summer job my nephew had a few years ago - working part time at Blockbuster. Now that place is gone - no one is working there making minimum wage at part time hours.</p>
<p>The S has applied to a lot of places and only had interviews at two…and those didn’t want him because he’s going away for college in the fall and could not commit to a year-round job. Needless to say he’s not all that encouraged…</p>
<p>S2 has applied all over his college town. He’s pretty frustrated. He was called for a group interview at a restaurant but was not called back afterwards. He went to talk to the manager last week who told him to come to the next group interview this afternoon. Keeping all fingers and toes crossed.</p>