On June 16, 2026, Oklahomans will vote on SQ 832. Visit www.sq832killsjobs.com to learn more.

While summer jobs have long been a cornerstone of teenage life, the number of youths employed this summer is expected to be the lowest in at least eight decades, according to a new report.

In Oklahoma, State Question 832 is expected to make things even worse by pricing many teenagers out of the market, according to economists nationwide.

Analyzing non-seasonally-adjusted Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas predicts teens will gain 790,000 jobs in May, June, and July 2026, down from 801,000 jobs last summer. That would be the lowest summer hiring total for teens since the BLS began tracking the data in 1948. Aside from 2025, the prior low was 932,000 in 1949.

The projected decline in teen jobs this summer continues a trend that became glaring in summer 2025, when the total teen jobs declined 25.6 percent from 2024’s total.

“Last summer was the weakest summer for teen hiring we have ever recorded,” said Andy Challenger, labor and workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “What is striking is that it happened without a recession. Inflation and rising fuel costs are squeezing the same households and small businesses that hire teens, such as amusement parks, restaurants, retailers, and summer camps. When margins tighten, summer hirers will wait for demand to dictate hiring.

“We predicted a quiet summer last year, and it played out even quieter than expected. The dynamics that drove that slowdown—cost pressures, automation, employers waiting to see how consumer demand holds up—are all still in place and, in some cases, they’ve intensified,” Challenger continued.

The Challenger, Gray & Christmas report noted that entertainment and leisure led the seasonal categories most relevant to teen hiring last year, with 28,000 announced plans. But this year, those two categories have announced plans to hire only 8,261, a 70 percent decline.

The report said several factors are reducing the availability of teen jobs this year, including inflation and oil prices that have pushed “input costs higher for the restaurants, retailers, and travel operators that historically anchor teen summer hiring.”

Increased automation is also reducing the number of jobs previously handled by teenagers.

The situation in Oklahoma could become even worse for teenagers seeking summer employment if SQ 832 becomes law.

Under SQ 832, the minimum wage in Oklahoma will hit $15 an hour by 2029 and then continue rising annually based on increases in the cost of living in the nation’s largest urban centers, as measured by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers.

That would effectively tie Oklahoma’s wage mandate to the cost of living in places like New York City or San Francisco.

While SQ 832 would initially mandate that entry-level jobs pay $15 an hour in 2029, an analysis by The State Chamber of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Farm Bureau found SQ 832 would put Oklahoma’s minimum wage on a fast track to $35.61 per hour and continue rising thereafter.

In addition, SQ 832 eliminates minimum-wage exemptions that have been in place for decades for farms and ranches, part-time employment, and teenage employment.

The Economic Policy Institute, which supports SQ 832, released a report in March estimating that the increased labor expenses created by the proposal will total more than $783 million at the $15-an-hour rate.

The higher cost of labor is expected to reduce the number of employers willing to take on teenagers taking their first steps into the workplace.

When the Employment Policies Institute commissioned a survey of 166 American economists in March and April, the survey found that 73 percent believe a $15-an-hour minimum wage will reduce the number of jobs available to teenagers.

If the wage mandate reaches $20 an hour, as SQ 832 will do in relatively short order, 89 percent of economists say it will reduce teen jobs. Above $20, the survey found that nearly all surveyed economists, 95 percent, say there will be fewer jobs for teenagers.