Luke Judge

This year’s summer job candidates again might see stiff competition for the limited positions available for teens and young adults in Sioux Falls.

Area employers already have stacks of applications for seasonal jobs typically filled by youths. Like last year, they’re also seeing older adults willing to take those jobs if they have been laid off or are between jobs.

“The applicant pool as a general rule is older,” said Don Kearney, director of parks and recreation in Sioux Falls. “The unemployment being high makes it pretty easy for us to fill positions.”

Sioux Falls’ recently released unemployment rate for January leaped to 5.5 percent compared with 4.7 percent a month earlier and 4.6 percent a year ago. That is a level not seen in more than two decades.

In addition, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says the average unemployment rate for 2009 for South Dakotans ages 16-19 was 10 percent, the highest of any age category.

Those numbers paint a tighter job market that might squeeze out some teens.

“The availability of jobs, for all jobs, continues to be lower than it was a year and a half ago,” said Greg Johnson, manager of the South Dakota Department of Labor in Sioux Falls.

Johnson’s advice for youths is to apply for jobs now instead of waiting. Young people even might consider job-shadowing in areas they might be interested in pursuing, he said. “Now is the time to try to connect with people in that field.”

At Wild Water West, general manager Fran Phillips said he can be fairly choosy in hiring the more than 160 people he needs for the summer. Many of his employees return year to year or invite their friends to apply. “Good employees have good friends who usually make good new employees,” he said.

While the park gives out incentives such as movie tickets, gas vouchers, tanning sessions and food coupons to employees to keep them all summer, he is seeing employees stick around anyway. “They’re not hopping jobs when they get bored because the other jobs just might not be there,” he said.

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