Do lifeguards have better job prospects than office interns? This summer they do
Postings for internships and summer jobs are still high compared to pre-pandemic levels but are on the decline compared to a year ago, leaving office interns with fewer prospects for jobs than lifeguards.
Indeed.com reported that summer internship job postings went down 14.7% from where they were at on May 19 in 2022 compared to May 19 in 2023, while summer job postings including “camp counselor and cook” were peaking earlier than last year compared to pre-pandemic levels.
The report continued, detailing, “while the year-over-year decline is muted compared to the 16.1% decline in total job postings over the same period, the level of internship and summer job postings hit its peak earlier this year than in past years — a bad sign for those that got a late start to their seasonal job search.”
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The Wall Street Journal reported that, “Workers in search of internships might not fare as well,” as those looking for summer jobs due to white-collar companies cutting jobs and are slow to hire.
“We have a widespread labor shortage in the American economy and that’s pushing up wages, especially teen wages,” economist at Rhode Island College, Paul Harrington told WSJ. “That’s going to bring kids into the job market.”
Another article from WSJ reported that more graduates from high school are forgoing getting college degrees as they want to start making money from the large amount of blue-collar jobs openings that don’t require higher education.
CNBC reported another factor to consider may be that since the pandemic it has been a “hypercompetitive” time to land an internship as companies have not added on more summer internships since 2020.
“I never heard back, or I heard back months later saying they weren’t offering the program anymore due to the pandemic,” 2021 graduate from The College of William and Mary, Amanda Yeo told CNBC.
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No internship? Here’s what they’re doing instead
The Wall Street Journal reported that 21-year-old Maggie Walker had applied to over 30 summer internships and wasn’t accepted to any of them.
“If they’re not hiring real positions, they’re really not hiring summer interns,” Walker said. “It was really disheartening and I definitely had some moments of being like, ‘Is it me? Am I just not qualified? Am I doing something wrong?’”
In response to not getting hired on as an intern anywhere, Walker ended up “piecing together a few paid summer jobs,” working part time in a research lab for 10 hours a week and working at a startup company for another 10 hours a week.
