Ugenie Labranche, 16, who has been searching for a summer job since January, thought her luck had finally turned when she spotted a “hiring now” sign outside a Dunkin’ in Jenkintown, Pa. But when she called recently, she was told the store wasn’t hiring.

It has happened a few times. A sign in the window, hopeful calls, only to be told the position is no longer available. Labranche, who will be a high school junior in the fall, has applied to more than a dozen jobs but still hasn’t landed one. Most of the time, she doesn’t hear back at all.

“It is frustrating because there are a lot of kids my age that want to work and they just can’t,” she said.

Teenagers across the country are entering one of the toughest summer job markets in recent years, as traditional jobs at restaurants, amusement parks, pools and stores either pause new hiring or choose adults for those roles.

In May, the unemployment rate for teenagers rose to 13.4%, from 13% in April and 12.4% a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

A tighter labor market suggests that teen unemployment could reach its highest level in over a decade, said Andy Challenger, senior vice president of the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. In May 2015, the unemployment rate for teenagers was 17.8%, but it began to decline before the pandemic.

This year, the firm estimates there will be about 1 million new summer jobs for 16- to 19-year-olds. It could be the lowest number since 2010, Challenger said, adding that companies that traditionally hire summer workers may hold off this year.

Uncertainty about the economy is a major reason, said Alicia Sasser Modestino, an economist at Northeastern University in Boston. Some businesses are freezing roles or cutting seasonal positions over concerns about lower consumer confidence and fears that consumer spending will weaken under President Donald Trump’s tariff policies. That hesitation hits teenagers hardest, Modestino said.

“Now when we’re starting to see the labor market cool off a bit in general, we’re seeing it hit teenagers harder, and teenagers first,” she said. “That’s because they’re really the canary in the coal mine. They are the last to be hired, the first to be fired.”

Tourism, another teen job driver, is down. Spending from international visitors to the United States is expected to drop by $8.3 billion this year, according to a recent Oxford Economics report.

Yet teenagers are undeterred. On Indeed, early-May job searches for summer work were at their highest in recent years, the company said.

Teenagers are also looking to Boys & Girls Clubs of America, which teaches workforce readiness skills. The organization reported a 14% jump last year in membership among teenagers, with many citing job readiness as a top reason for joining.

“They want to find a first job, they want adult preparation, and they want the skill development,” said Jennifer Bateman, senior vice president of youth development at the organization.

Bateman also said the rise of automation — like self-checkout kiosks — had chipped away at the kinds of entry-level jobs teenagers used to rely on. “They definitely note that there’s fewer opportunities available,” she added.

Shalini Khiani, 17, from San Jose, Calif., also struggled to find the kind of work she was looking for. Last summer, she had a job at an amusement park in nearby Santa Clara, but she was unable to find a similar opportunity this year.

Eventually, she landed a job as an intern at a local summer camp, but it pays almost $2 less than her job last summer. Khiani doesn’t think she would have gotten the job without her experience at the amusement park, since many of her teen co-workers at the camp previously had jobs.

“No one really likes hiring teenagers,” Khiani said. “This is the point where we are right now.”