Fewer Summer Jobs Seen As a Result of Slowdown

The nationwide economic slowdown will mean fewer part-time jobs this summer for high school students in San Diego County, employers and job counselors say.

And, with the county’s unemployment rate for adults hovering at about 6.3%--up from just 3.7% a year ago--older workers are competing with high school students for available part-time positions, said N. Bruce Ferris, co-founder of Compensations Practices Assn. of San Diego, which tracks hiring and salary trends in the county.

The dearth of summer jobs is in stark contrast to 1989, when local employers were scrambling to attract enough qualified youths to fill summer openings. “It’s completely turned around,” Ferris said.

The lack of part-time jobs is evident in the number of work permits the San Diego Unified School District issues to companies that intend to hire youths under the age of 18. During recent school years, the district has issued about 12,500 permits each year, according to Kathy Parker, the district’s work permit clerk.

This year it has issued nearly 1,000 fewer work permits than during the previous school year, Parker said. The dramatic drop is occurring because companies are not hiring as many part-time employees, she said, and more jobs are evidently going to people 18 and older, who do not need the permits in order to work.

The shortage is also apparent on job boards found at local high schools.

In April, Kearny High School’s job board usually is cluttered with 40 or more notices, an indication there will be a number of summer jobs available for students, said Paul Sanford, a school district guidance counselor at Kearny and Patrick Henry high schools.

But, when the board has a dozen or fewer notices--as it did Monday--it’s as good an indicator as any that San Diego County’s economy has stalled and that many students will be singing the summertime blues, Sanford said.

“I don’t think it takes a brain surgeon to realize that there doesn’t seem to be any (economic) relief in sight right now,” he said. “I keep reading that we’re coming out of the recession, but last Friday I heard that 60,000 new people just applied for unemployment in California.”

In 1989, by contrast, the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park near Escondido responded to a shortage of qualified applicants by hosting their first-ever jobs fair. Sea World of California’s applicant-to-job ratio--which stood at 10 to 1 during the early 1980s--had tumbled to just three applications for each part-time opening.

But, with the economy stalled, Sea World is now receiving four or more applications for each of the 1,200 jobs it will fill this summer, a park spokesman said. And the zoo has already filled its 300 part-time positions, according to spokesman Jeff Jouett.

“I think it has something to do with the recession,” Jouett said. “But there’s a bigger labor force looking for jobs this year.”

Similarly, Foodmaker, the San Diego-based parent company of the Jack In The Box restaurant chain, is “not having the kind of staffing crisis” that occurred two years ago, company spokeswoman Jan McLane Rieger said.

Foodmaker, which in 1989 struggled to fill summer openings, expects little trouble when it comes time to hire 5,000 part-time workers for the company’s 1,000 restaurants around the country, Rieger said.

Del Mar resident Erik Teetzel, a 16-year-old junior at Torrey Pines High School who in November landed a job with Jack In The Box, said classmates have found it increasingly difficult to find part-time work.

Teetzel found work with Jack In The Box shortly after applying at about half a dozen nearby fast-food and retail outlets. Only Jack In The Box responded with a job offer, Teetzel said.

Several of Teetzel’s friends, who are now looking for summer jobs, haven’t been as lucky. “They say it’s difficult because a lot of employers just don’t respond” to job-seekers, he said.

Although Teetzel has been able to find work, he is hoping that the economic slowdown doesn’t dash his plan to also work as an intern at a local architectural firm. “They said they had to lay off 30% of their people,” Teetzel said.

Meanwhile, San Diego isn’t the only place where summer jobs have gotten harder to find.

“People are sticking around in their jobs this year,” said Jeri Beals, manager of West Coast employment for Walt Disney Attractions. Disneyland alone has 1,800 summer positions.

Competition for jobs at Disneyland is keener, with about four applicants for each opening. Last year, there were three applicants for every available job.

Knott’s Berry Farm reports having an easier time finding qualified applicants for its 2,000 summer jobs. “Other (employers) are not hiring as many people,” so Knott’s has a larger pool to choose from, said Pete Roberts, Knott’s employment manager.

Times staff writer Chris Woodyard in Orange County contributed to this story.