Hannah Jones/ Winonan
Summer is coming. A few students during these last few weeks have been preparing by stretching out on the grass and getting a jump on their tans, but for many Winona State University students, the advent of summer means shooting their resume out to any company who will take them.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics found about half of all youth aged 16 to 24 were employed in July 2013. That’s about 19.7 million workers: a figure that shot up by 11 percent since April 2013. 26 percent of those jobs were in hospitality and food services, and 19 percent were in retail.
This adds up to a lot of students vying for the same minimum-wage jobs at Dairy Queen and Forever 21.
Sam Clausen-Mckiver, a freshman from Minneapolis, Minn., is one of many students throwing his hat into the ring. He’s hoping for a local fast food job, possibly at Ground Round.
Not exactly his passion.
“A job is a job,” Clausen-Mckiver said.
Clausen-Mckiver is studying political science and psychology at Winona State, and although he doesn’t know exactly where this will take him post-graduation, he knows it’s not to a fast food restaurant. Besides, food service isn’t even his ideal summer gig. Under different circumstances, he’d like to be a camp counselor.
“But they don’t pay as well,” he said. “I need money.”
Amanda Hamlett, a freshman from Apple Valley, Minn., is keeping her job at Fleet Farm this summer. It’s definitely not because she can’t get enough of it.
“It’s kind of boring,” she said.
Hamlett is going for accounting and hopes one day to do auditing for companies, but in the meantime she is stuck in the minimum-wage labor pool. Like Clausen-Mckiver, a lot of her motivation comes from the money.
But some of it just comes from being employed.
“I feel good having a job,” she said. “I can’t imagine spending a summer without one.”
Finance major Nick Roepke, however, can.
“I don’t want to work,” he said. “I don’t need to.”
Roepke, a junior, is planning on taking classes and focusing on his workout plan this summer. His plans for after May aren’t finalized, but for now they look like “summer school and chilling,” he said.
His decision not to work for a job, he said, was partially because jobs and school hadn’t mixed for him in the past.
“If you can do it, you’re good,” he said. But he would be saving the time for studying unless something came along.
Kyler Argot, a sophomore business major, isn’t looking for work either. At least, not the kind most students are going for. His dream job is to one day own his own business.
“I want to be my own boss. I don’t want to work for anyone,” he said, and until that day, he’ll be focusing on his studies as well.
It’s one thing to abstain from applying, but sadly, plenty of students who do apply will run into hard luck pinning down a job. Last July, the unemployment rate for youth was 16.3 percent. The good news: that number has since dropped from the previous year, going from 4 million to 3.8 million.
And for those who for whatever reason won’t be working, hey—there’s always the tan.
