"A lot of (high school students) babysit," said Kathy Stuart, assistant principal and academic adviser at Sacred Heart Academy, 316 E. Michigan St. "A majority of them probably don't work, but once they get to be seniors, they try and find jobs."

At the beginning of April, 4,112 students are enrolled at Central Michigan University for the summer, and there are 690 high school juniors and seniors in Mount Pleasant.

"I think it's hard for high school students to find jobs in Mount Pleasant," said Gene Moutsatson, co-owner of the Book Mark 2200 S. Mission St. "(Because of) both college (students) and that there are not a lot of jobs."

The Italian Oven, 2336 S. Mission St., has about 46 employees right now, and only one of those is a high school student, said Una Ebert, general manager.

Only 5 percent of their open interviews over the summer will be high school students, compared to 85 percent that will be college students, Ebert said.

"We have alcohol here, so whoever works here has to be 18, which excludes a lot of high school students," she said.

The only position open to individuals under 18 is a dish washer, Ebert said.

Laws cause minors to miss opportunities

The college town may not be the only factor blocking high school students from getting jobs.

"The bigger problem is that a lot of places can't hire (high school students) anyway because of liabilities," said Doozies Ice Cream owner Clyde Dosenberry. "That's where most of them lose out on a job. They aren't old enough."

Minimum wage for a minor is not as much as it would be for someone 18 or older, but employers are still hesitant to hire them, he said.

The Youth Employment Standard Act limits the activities that minors can do and also the hours they can work, said Jack Finn, director for the wage and hour division of the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Book Mark is one business that does not hire anyone under 18 because of liability issues. It is more of a precaution to not hire minors, especially if they are dealing with the hot coffee at the store, Moutsatson said.

Minors cannot drive and work an outside help, which excludes them from jobs such as being a pizza delivery driver. Minors cannot work with bakery machines, paper product machines or punching and shearing machines, among others, according to the act.

An exception

Doozies Ice Cream, 1310 E. Pickard St., works in a similar fashion, but might offer some hope to high school students.

Doozies is open from April until October and has a mix of college students and high school students during the summer, Dosenberry said. A lot of the college students there, however, started in high school. Dosenberry said he likes to hire students when they are in their junior year of high school and have them continue to work each year if they attend CMU.

Out of the 24 employees that work at Doozies, about 60 percent are college students and 30 percent are high school students.

"They have to be here one summer to be 80 to 90 percent efficient at making everything," he said. "We could have some college students graduating so I want to get some younger people so they are here for awhile."

metro@cm-life.com