America is no longer in the grips of recession, economists say. The overall unemployment rate has been under 6 percent since September. For teens, it’s a much different story.

The number of workers between the ages of 14 and 18 has declined by about 33 percent since 2001, according to a new study by CareerBuilder. That’s a loss of about 1.7 million jobs.

It’s not that teens aren’t looking for work; they are. It’s not that there aren’t loads of jobs that teens are qualified to do. We all still need to get our daily coffee or order an occasional hamburger, after all. However, high school students are competing with more experienced workers for those precious jobs. “There’s this new competitive dynamic that teens have to deal with today that they didn’t have to deal with before,” says Jennifer Grasz, vice president of corporate communications at CareerBuilder. “Teenagers [now have] to compete with college students and even retirees or other workers who are more seasoned for opportunities because people just need to earn a paycheck.” (U.S. News and World Report)