As of March 15, 2020, business closures across Arizona have caused a spike in unemployment rates, including among Arizona’s teenaged-workforce, with an overall U.S. unemployment rate of 14.7% in April, according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. The financial assistance teens have received due to temporary COVID-related job loss has caused many to change their employment outlook as well.
“I make significantly more money off of unemployment than I do working at my job,” said Genevieve Kelsey, a current senior at Chandler High School. After spending a month and a half collecting unemployment, she said, “My job doesn’t seem worth it anymore; it seems laborious and time consuming, especially when I only have to pay for the price of my car insurance.”
Some students plan to use this extra money from unemployment to benefit themselves in the future. Another student, Nathan Bigelow, said, “I’m saving up to help with college. Every bit I can save helps.” Other students used this as a savings boost, such as Maya Schmerfeld, who saved her unemployment checks to make a down payment on her new car.
“I'm excited to have a quicker start to my savings goals,” said Schmerfeld. Since she had the chance to begin saving up, she has approached her goal of driving a nicer car faster than she initially anticipated.
However, there have also been students who say their income has been negatively impacted by collecting unemployment. Students relying on their incomes to support their families have not had their desired outcome from receiving unemployment checks. An anonymous student said, “I don’t make enough money to support my family the way I used to.” Another student said, “I have had to find ways to make money under the table so I can still pay for what I usually do.”
Students in many cases have also seen a large reduction in the hours businesses are asking them to work. In an instance where a restaurant was not officially shut down but lost business, another anonymous junior said, “I had a huge loss of hours but still couldn’t get unemployment because I still had a job.” Similarly another student said, “I was making way less money but my job wasn’t closed, and I couldn’t find another job, so I had to stay working fewer hours.”
As jobs have reopened, students are embracing regularity. Kevin Mace, a senior at CHS, said, “I’m ready to be back at work, but I definitely miss having chunks of money fall into my lap that I can use for whatever I want, whether it be savings or spending on things I’ve wanted for a while. I don’t feel as guilty spending money I didn’t have to go to work to earn.”
As of now, jobs are reopening, yet the teenagers of 2020 continue to be impacted by a change to their first experience working.
Photos courtesy of Alyssa Rosenberg