Michigan teens face tougher job market as technology reshapes entry-level work

Michigan’s teen unemployment rate reached 18% this summer, compared with 14.6% nationally
Labor experts say online hiring systems and increased demand for entry-level jobs are making it harder for teens to find work
Workforce programs like Detroit’s Grow Detroit’s Young Talent Program help connect young workers with employers

For generations, landing a first job often meant walking into a restaurant, movie theater or retail store, asking for an application and leaving with an interview. Today, many Michigan teenagers say they’re sending dozens of online applications into automated hiring systems with little or no response as competition for entry-level jobs intensifies.

Teen unemployment in Michigan has climbed to 18% this summer, up from about 13% in 2023 and well above the national average of 14.6%, according to state and federal data.

Labor experts say teens looking for summer jobs now face stiffer competition for entry-level positions.

“This is typical because unemployment is higher for everybody in the last couple of years but that disproportionately hurts the teens because they’re only looking for jobs for a few months out of the year, as opposed to all year round,” said Wayne Rourke, labor market information director for Michigan’s Center for Data and Analytics.

The labor market is flooded with “entry-level, low-skilled workers” looking for jobs when teens and young adults are on summer break from school, Rourke said.

The state forecasts that 207,100 teens are expected to be working from June to August, while 45,400 will be unemployed. Overall, the state’s unemployment rate for all ages is 5%, which is slightly higher than the national unemployment rate of 4.2%.

Kiosks taking over jobs

Technology is compounding the challenge for teens seeking work. Job postings are more likely to be found online than by walking into a store or restaurant. In addition, some jobs that employers used to hire teens to perform can now be accomplished through self-service ordering kiosks and other automated systems.

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“Ten years ago, a high school kid or a college kid could just walk in and fill out an application and sometimes get an on-the-spot interview,” Tim Queen, general manager at the Emagine Royal Oak theater, said. “Now, even for us, we direct anybody who is inquiring about hiring to our website to fill out an online application.”

“We still do have an in-person interview process, but that is preceded by a telephone pre-interview,” he said.

As businesses adopt self-service kiosks and other automated technology, the familiar image of a teenager selling movie tickets or taking fast-food orders is becoming less common.

“On a given Friday night we would maybe have four or five box office workers to sell tickets but that was before not only the kiosks but also before the ability to buy your tickets in advance online.”

A worker in the back storage room of a movie theater carries cardboard cases of M&M's — Caleb Killebrew, 18, of Ferndale, grabs candy to restock during his shift at the Emagine theater in Royal Oak. (Ella Miller/Bridge Michigan)

The Royal Oak location has two self-service kiosks and now staffs at least one person at the ticket counter, especially during busy weekends.

“Even though the majority of our customers purchase their tickets ahead of time … we do still get a pretty good number of walk-ups just like you would have in the old days before all of this technology,” Queen said.

Still, there are other jobs available at the theater outside of working the ticket counter.

“We still have to have a good number of staff for taking guests’ orders, serving food, taking money payments both at the concession stand and at the bar,” he said. “We still need a good amount of people on staff for our ushering duties … and behind the scenes too, even in our kitchen, we have to have a number of people cooking food for our higher-priced items beyond just popcorn.”

Putting off retirement

While the teen unemployment rate in the US has increased over the last three years, the unemployment rate for Americans over the age of 55 has remained relatively steady, hovering around 3%.

In Michigan, the unemployment rate for residents over 55 is about 4%. In some places, it’s not unusual to see an older person performing jobs typically done by teens.

Demographic changes are also altering the workforce, as more older Americans continue working beyond what had been considered retirement age, extending careers for financial, personal and health-related reasons.

“The Social Security for retirement age has increased, so people need to wait longer to get full benefits. Another factor is that people are living longer, so … people enjoy working longer to keep busy,” Levy said. “Of course there are people working longer because they can’t afford to retire,” she added. “All of those things are moving people in the direction of working longer.”

For others, retirement means leaving one career but not leaving the workforce altogether.

“The thing that is truly gone is the idea of people doing one thing for decades and just stopping cold turkey. There are many more complicated pathways,” Levy said. “Whether or not people work is the result of a lot of different factors that in some cases compete with each other.”

Alternative paths to employment

Some younger job applicants, meanwhile, are finding ways to cut through the competition.

“The concept of having a teenage job is just gone because there’s always older people working at the fast-food jobs,” said 18-year-old Arianna Bandford of Detroit. “It’s just making it hard for us teens to get into those jobs nowadays because they’re the ones taking up all the jobs and all the hours.”

Bandford is among the teens who’ve turned to workforce development programs that connect young people directly with employers.

She participates in the city of Detroit’s Grow Detroit’s Young Talent Program, which helps teenagers and young adults find jobs over the summer, ranging from event planning, accounting and retail to the Junior Police or Fire Cadets. The program employed over 8,000 teens last year.

The program helped her find a job after applying to dozens of places beginning in January with no luck. She now works at Camp Dinner Table in Detroit, which offers hands-on workshops to teach kids about cooking and food safety

“One of the other jobs I applied to told me I didn’t have enough experience for the position I applied for, so they didn’t want to hire me,” Bandford said. “Other jobs never even reached back out to me.”