School's out and, for many teens, the chase is on. Teens all over the Richmond Hill area face a common issue and challenge in wrestling secure employment from a strained local job pool.

The summer has always been the premier, and for some students with heavy extracurricular schedules during the school year, the only time to find a job.

This year however, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for teens to find jobs, and sadly the thinning of the job market could not have come at a worse time the way gas prices, always a constant enemy of the ‘freedom-of-the-road’ hungry teen, have risen and are rising.

The lack of teens in the workplace has also put greater financial stress on their parents, who are then turning and putting more pressure on their children to find the jobs that just aren’t there, or are so swamped with applicants the chances of actually achieving employment is slim.

It’s all one big vicious cycle.

"Nobody’s hiring," said Brian Adams, 17, after trying his luck at job hunting.

Some would point a finger at job employers, saying if the jobs are there they’re doing a poor job of reaching the applicant.

While newspaper classifieds have always been the mainstay of the job hunter many teens find it’s mostly filled with full time, year round, occupations for older individuals.

Although with more and more companies going ‘online’ the internet, a tool most teens are fairly affluent with, is fast becoming an easier, and with some companies such as CVS the only, way to find and apply for a job.

However with all the new growth and development in Richmond Hill, such as at the Station Exchange and the Harris Trail/Hwy. 17 intersection more jobs may become available.

These new businesses will hopefully stimulate the teen job market and shed some light at the end of a long and bleak looking tunnel for jobless Richmond Hill teens.