It's a tightrope, Spud

This morning my local paper, the San Jose Mercury News, ran this story:

Economic downturn makes finding summer jobs tough for teens

As of April, the national unemployment rate is 8.9 percent. But for teenagers ages 16-19 — who are actively, but unsuccessfully looking for work — it's 20.9 percent, more than twice the national average and the highest in a decade, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The "youth labor force" rises sharply in latespring and early summer, as large numbers of high school and college students take summer jobs and newly minted graduates enter the labor market.

But economists note that in a downturn, young workers are often the first to lose their jobs — or not get hired in the first place.