Teenagers hit by shortage of Saturday jobs, warns report The latest figures show 260,000 teenagers have a Saturday job, compared with 435,000 in 1997. "Recruiters place significant emphasis on experience but young people are leaving education increasingly less experienced," the report says. Word of mouth is the most common way to get a job, but a shortage of work experience means young people are unable to build up informal contacts, it added. Valerie Todd, a UKCES commissioner, said: "There's more emphasis on doing well at school. Young people are finding less time to do what they would have done a few years ago, whether that's a paper round or working in the local shop. I think it's also the changing structure of the labour market. Retail is still a big employer, but a lot more of it is being done online. As a consequence we need to think about how we get young people the work experience they need.