Difficult to Find a Summer Job?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/business/25teen.html?em&ex=1211860800&en=312420856c834e5c&ei=5087%0A

The New York Times overlooks the most obvious cause for a shortage of summer employment - the minimum wage hike, which has priced many teenagers right out of the market.

Less skilled, less experienced, and less consistent (ie can't work year round) workers compensate for their disadvantages by charging a lower price for their services. Companies who desire more skilled, experienced and consistent workers can still get them - just at a higher price. When the minimum wage prohibits less skilled, less experienced and less consistent workers from offering their labor for less than the full time adult alternative, then employers have little reason to hire them.

It gets harder and harder to start at the bottom and work your way up when the government limits opportunities at the bottom position. I suspect that more students in summer classes and in unpaid internships are responses to, rather than causes of, the drop in paid summer employment.