What’s Working: Colorado’s Summer Jobs Are Disappearing continued from page 1...

demand more benefits and flexibility during the pandemic labor shortage. Employers, tired of getting ghosted by applicants during the pandemic, looked for ways to operate more efficiently and with a smaller crew. Companies like Walmart began focusing on hiring permanent workers rather than temporary seasonal ones, and went into last holiday season needing to hire fewer employees.

As workers returned, the applicant pool has grown larger even if the actual openings did not.

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Sage Hospitality Group, which operates 16 hotels and 14 restaurants and bars in the Denver area, doesn’t even look for a summer crew.

The “jobs are year-round positions, regardless of whether they are full time or part time, salaried or hourly,” said Thelma Rockhold, Sage’s chief people officer. “While seasonal business absolutely influences the occupancy and business levels within our hotels and restaurants, the number of job openings is not driven by a seasonal peak.”

Fewer teens work, a trend decades in the making

While it’s easy to point to the pandemic labor shortage for workforce shuffles and worker ennui, the data shows that the number of teenagers who work has been declining for decades.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Colorado’s population of 16- to 19-yearolds is the highest it’s been since 2000. But the percentage of this age group in the workforce has dropped to 39.9% from 55.4% two decades ago.

A Flourish chart

That’s similar to the national trend, said Ryan Gedney, principal economist for the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. Declines in teenage workers started in 1979 as the early 1980s recession was kicking in. There were also notable dips during the Great Recession and, of course, the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

But for the past two decades, Gedney pointed to BLS analysis about why teenagers have dropped out of the labor force: more educational opportunities.

“In particular, teen participation during the summer has dropped dramatically. School enrollment has increased, especially during the summer months, and enrollment affects the participation of teenagers in the labor force. Along with the increased emphasis toward college, coursework has also become more strenuous in high school. In addition, teens spend much of their time on school activities — only sleeping accounts for more time in a teenager’s day,” a 2017 BLS report concluded.

A Flourish chart

However, there was an uptick during the pandemic when schools went remote and many workers lost their jobs. But the number of teenagers joining the labor force increased. Gedney pointed to 2021 data showing that the percent of Colorado’s teenage population that was employed increased to nearly 40%, from 37.4% in 2019.

“I think that’s due to two reasons,” he said in an email. “Disruption in the school year due to the pandemic, which could have shifted more teens into the labor market and 2) an increase in demand for pandemic-services that traditionally have higher concentrations of teen employment (like grocery stores).”

Why it may be difficult to find a summer job

Applications to work for the summer at Kind Coffee in Estes Park began arriving in January. They were filled by early May, mostly by local high schoolers and returning staffers who are college students home for the summer, said Kimi Nash, who joined Kind Coffee in 2019 and bought the business about two months ago. She’s handled summer hiring since joining the shop.

She’s been fortunate, she said. She didn’t experience the recent labor shortage because word of mouth has helped fill Kind Coffee’s seasonal jobs. Two college students returning for the summer started when they were 14 and in high school. Another five are still in high school.

“That’s something we work with our leaders on. As tempting as it may seem, please don’t hire somebody in the moment because the amount of time you’re going to spend training is a big focus. We want to make sure that whoever’s coming in is set up for success. That can only be done if they feel that they are the right fit and they’re able to give us the time and effort to do that training,” Shankar said, adding that the number of overall hires hasn’t changed much since pre-pandemic times.

The past two years were more of a struggle, she added. Last year, the lodge held a hiring event every month. The company also started using more technology like artificial intelligence to better find candidates and respond to them. In April, they added a new tool to encourage younger candidates: texting.

The lag time between someone submitting an application and getting called in for an interview was taking too long. An application by text means they can schedule an interview within hours. Texting also supports the hiring process, allowing new employees to complete paperwork.

Kind Coffee in Estes Park began receiving applications for summer jobs in January. The spots were filled by early May. (Screengrab)

That said, she’s had to turn down “several” summer applicants.

“Everybody was great, but we just had our commitments already,” Nash said. “And it’s not who applies first. It was just more like figuring out who has barista experience. Or what do they say about Kind Coffee? Did they even know the business? It’s clear that it’s just someone sending in their application as opposed to saying, ‘I would love to be part of your team.’ ‘I’ve been there.’ ‘I’ve spent my summers there.’ Those are the ones who make their way to the top of the pile — when there’s that personal connection because it’s exciting that they want to work with us.”

Over at the Great Wolf Lodge, a resort and indoor water park in Colorado Springs, hiring director Yamini Shankar called this summer’s hiring effort a great success. For the first time, the chain held a one-day hiring event May 2, promoting it with TV ads and national campaigns to help its local lodges.

About 200 candidates attended the Colorado Springs event. Shankar estimates 80 offers were made. Even though the lodge aims to have a mix of about 100 full-time and part-time lifeguards, they don’t want to over hire for the sake of having warm bodies.

“It’s played a huge role in terms of limiting that turnaround time. People get excited, ‘Hey, I got hired within a day,’” she said. “One thing we noticed with the current generation, especially for summer jobs for mostly teenagers, they want everything to be really quick. They want to see results really quick. They can literally apply online and at the same moment schedule an interview. They could be coming in for an interview within the next 24 hours.”

Come August, she’ll have to revisit whether another hiring event is needed. At that time, they’ll start talking to seasonal staff to find out who can stay longer or just return during the holidays. Flexibility on the company’s end is key to retaining staff, she said. “The usual norm in hospitality is that you need to be available 24/7. You know, all days of the week. We are kind of changing that mindset. We cannot expect that for all positions,” she said. “Some people may just want to work one day a week and if we’re able to accommodate that business wise, we want to be open to that option.”

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Gov. Polis’ Property Tax Plan Faces Legal Challenge; Questions Around Measure Piling Up

by Sherrie Peif,

Complete Colorado Page 2

DENVER — A bill that has caused conflict with the ballot numbering through the Secretary of State’s Office, still has more questions than answers, including whether the bill violates Colorado’s single-subject law, whether the ballot language is clear, and even how long citizens have to challenge a referred measure.

Senate Bill 23-303, Gov. Jared Polis’ rushed property tax plan that will ask voters to sacrifice Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) refunds in the name of property tax relief, took just seven days to go from introduction in the Colorado Senate to final passage on the House floor.

The initiative that SB 303 places on the ballot is now being challenged in Denver District Court after Advance Colorado filed in opposition on Wednesday, citing several issues.

“We think it violates the single subject rule,” said Michael Fields, President of Advance Colorado. “It’s taking away TABOR. It talks about property tax relief. It puts money toward renters. And it changes the TABOR formula permanently. That all can’t be done on the same measure. If as citizens we brought this to the title board, we’d be laughed out of the title board. Legislators should have to abide by the same laws.”

Fields is also challenging the ballot title language, which promises property tax reduction but doesn’t say how.

“It doesn’t give rates. It doesn’t point out that this is TABOR money. It doesn’t point out that the state can’t keep this money,” Fields said. “It is very unclear what people would be voting on.”

Fields said the language in the bill causes many problems.

More questions than answers

Complete Colorado first reported last week that language in the bill includes a ballot title that labels the measure as Proposition HH, which should be the ballot number for a previous referendum that passed the state legislature first, which appears to make the Polis property tax plan actually Proposition II, according to the state’s election rules.

Speculation since the story has led most to believe the measure will end up on the ballot as Proposition HH, as the legislature declared. However, a spokesman for the Secretary of State’s office still won’t commit to that.

Complete Colorado reached out several times to those in the office who work in ballot numbering but never received a response prior to publication. After the story broke, media relations for the department contacted Complete Colorado.

First, Deputy Communications Director Jack Todd said: “The Department of State has no jurisdiction over the conduct of the legislature and cannot rule on how the legislature makes decisions.”

When pressed for clarity about the ballot lettering the bill would receive, Todd said: “Until the measures are received by the Secretary of State’s office (neither has been at this point), the Department cannot speculate on the labels of any referred measures.”

Former Deputy Secretary of State Suzanne Taheri told Complete Colorado she had never seen the legislature put the ballot title in the bill — as it usually is passed with a concurrent resolution sending it to the ballot. That is then sent to the Secretary of State to set the ballot order.

Fields agreed, adding the way this referendum is making its way onto the ballot is unprecedented. The law gives citizens five days after the legislature makes the referral to challenge its validity. However, because the legislature embedded the referendum into a bill, Fields said no one knows if its five days after passage or five days after the governor signs it.

“There is no precedent on this,” Fields said. “So we didn’t want to miss out on something if we waited for the governor to sign the bill.”

Fields said Advance Colorado plans to file an amended challenge after Governor Polis signs the bill, as he said many other groups have come forward who want to put their names on the challenge in support of the opposition.

“The fact the governor has to sign this before it goes to the voters is not normal,” Fields said.

11 Years After the Creation of DACA, Congress Trying Again To Give ‘Dreamers’ More Legal Certainty

by Caitlyn Kim

A bipartisan group of U.S. House members reintroduced a bill to protect DREAMERS on the 11th anniversary of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA program. There are over 13,000 DACA recipients, or Dreamers, living in Colorado, and more than half a million total across the country. The program authorizes some undocumented people who were brought to the U.S. as children to live and work in the U.S.

“Dreamers pay taxes, build and own small businesses, and work hard to grow our economy. Yet they remain in limbo,” said Democratic Rep. Sylvia Garcia of Texas, who introduced the bill this Congress. “This bipartisan American Dream and Promise Act is about giving Dreamers, TPS, and DED holders an opportunity to achieve the American dream.”

She said the pathway would be simple, legal and safe. The bill would grant qualified people 10 years of conditional permanent resident status. It would also provide legal status for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders — a program that covers migrants from specific countries that the deems unsafe for people to return to — and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) recipients. It also included provisions to some immigrant families as they apply for citizenship.

Unlike past years, three Republicans have signed on as co-sponsors.

According to GOP Rep. Maria Salazar of Florida, this bill is long past due. “I think it’s inconceivable, once again, that good people cannot stand up and say proudly, ‘I’m here and I’m contributing and I want to be part of the promised land.’”

She urged the public to send politicians on both sides of the aisle the message that it’s time for solutions. “Give dignity to those people who live in the shadows, including the Dreamers, who are the most innocent victims of this situation.”

At least one Republican sponsor admitted that more work needs to be done on their side of the aisle before the bill can be brought to the floor.

GOP Rep. John Duarte of California said when there’s more support for the bill and “it’s a reality with a lot of very firm facts,” then they’ll take it to Republican leadership for consideration.

A version of the bill passed in the last Congress, when Democrats had control of the House, but never made it through the Senate. Only nine Republicans supported the bill then. All three of Colorado’s Republican congress members opposed it.

House Majority Leader, Democrat Hakeem Jeffries, said he’s committed to working with Republicans and the Senate “to speak up and show up and stand up until the American Dream and Promise Act is the law of the land.”