Hundreds of teens are flooding job ads to work at ice cream shops and swimming pools as they grapple with the worst summer job market in 80 years

Summer jobs have been teenagers’ rite of passage for generations—from scooping ice cream and babysitting, to lifeguarding and bagging groceries. But as a hiring freeze has taken over the labor market, high schoolers are feeling the chill. So far 2026 is shaping up to be the worst summer job market in nearly eight decades. Teenagers will gain around 790,000 jobs in May, June, and July of this year—down 801,000 from 2025—according to a recent report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. And if the prediction plays out in the coming months, it would mark the lowest summer of teen hiring since 1948, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking the data. Beyond the previous year, the only other time this figure dropped to a steep trough was in 2010 (960,000) as the U.S. was reeling from the Great Recession. Now, high schoolers are flocking to the limited roles up for grabs. Sundae School Homemade Ice Cream, an ice-cream shop in the coastal town of Cape Cod, received hundreds of applications from teens for just 50 open summer jobs, the WSJ reported. Additionally, lifeguard positions have surged 78% over the past year, according to data from Indeed. But some of the classic seasonal gigs are also pulling back in the middle of an uncertain economic environment. However, there are still a few bright spots left for teens on the hunt for summer work. “This summer will be tougher for high schoolers, because the industries that typically hire teens are pulling back,” Kory Kantenga, head of economics, Americas at LinkedIn, tells Fortune. “High schoolers looking for summer work should expect to face more competition as conditions have become more challenging for all young workers.” Why employers are cutting back on hiring teens—and who is hiring High schoolers have rising inflation, higher oil prices, and a sluggish hiring market to blame for their job woes, according to the Challenger report. But Andy Challenger, a labor and workplace expert and chief revenue office