With gasoline prices hovering near $4 per gallon, employers are trying to attract youths to minimum wage-paying jobs with longer shifts and more flexible schedules.

Valley business operators said the area is bucking the national trend of fewer summer jobs for teens due to a slowing economy, but agree everyone is feeling the pinch.

"There are always jobs in this business," said Gary Daddario, manager of the McDonald's fast-food restaurant in Shamokin Dam, where 60 percent of the 67 employees are teens.

While jobs are available, the pool of candidates seeking minimum wage jobs for $7.15 an hour has changed because of soaring fuel prices, Daddario said.

In May 2007, Valley motorists paid about $3 per gallon of gasoline. Today, a gallon costs about $3.95 and the price is climbing almost daily.

Rising gasoline prices mean an employee has to work about 45 minutes longer just to cover the added expense of commuting to work every day.

"I've lost a few workers from the Middleburg area who found jobs closer to their home," Daddario said. "Most of the kids drive, but more of them are walking or riding bicycles to work. Even some of our full-time staff are riding bikes to save some money."

Lora Morningstar said she's hired 22 youths to work at her Rita's Italian Ice stores in Hummels Wharf and Lewisburg, the same number as last year.

"I'm optimistic, even with the price of gasoline going up, that people will want cool treats," she said.

To help her young employees who are also paying more at the gasoline pump, Morningstar said she's scheduling longer shifts to make it worth their time and money to come to work.

"I think employers who are hiring teens are thinking about those things," she said.

Carpooling is encouraged at Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, human resources director Stacey Knoebels McDonald said.

Of the 1,500 park's employees, about one-third, or 500, are teenagers who earn minimum wage. The park pays a little less for the 150 or so employees aged 14 and 15, who work in the gift shops, selling food or working as ride assistants.

Young hires are asked whether they have siblings or friends working at the park and, if so, McDonald said, they are often placed within the same department so a manager can coordinate schedules to allow for carpooling.

"We try to accommodate them," she said, adding that it's mainly parents voicing concern about how much it costs to get their children to work.

Depending on the type of job, some Knoebels workers are allowed to work longer or double shifts.

High gasoline prices mean Knoebels, more than in previous years, is employing people who live near the park, McDonald said.

"It wouldn't be worth their time or money, unless they're carpooling," she said.

While the high cost of fuel is a factor in job options, and unemployment in the Valley is up from 4.5 percent in April 2007 to 5.4 percent in April 2008, area teens aren't facing the troubling trend many other youths across the country are experiencing.

According to a study published by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston, employers are cutting back on seasonal jobs or giving those positions to retirees and college students who need the extra income.

As a result, only about one-third of Americans aged 16 to 19 will have a job this summer. It's a marked decline from the 45 percent of teens employed in the summer of 2000.

Jessica Poff, 20, of Sunbury, said some youths are just not motivated to work.

An assistant manager at Liberty Splashland in Northumberland who has worked at the pool for seven consecutive years, Poff said the pool has a shortage of lifeguards as it prepares to open for the season Thursday.

"We've never had a problem (hiring) before," Poff said. "I don't know why. It's an easy and fun job. Everyone that works here is 21 and under."

There are about 20 lifeguards on staff and about seven more are needed.

Young people have an array of employment opportunities beyond fast-food restaurants and retail, Poff said.

"There are lots of jobs," Poff said. "People need their grass mowed or help landscaping. People have to go out and look for some of these jobs, but they're out there. Some people are just lazy."

Amanda Mabus said she worked several odd jobs that paid below minimum wage. Now she works at the Shamokin Dam Long John Silver's restaurant and still struggles to keep up with her bills.

Most of her peers are sharing car rides to save money or getting lifts from parents and friends, the 19-year-old Snydertown resident said.

Mabus said the restaurant managers allow for flexible hours and she tries to work longer shifts, but fuel costs are still having an affect on her bank account.

"Twenty bucks doesn't even fill my gas tank halfway," she said of her four-cylinder vehicle. "I'll probably be on E when I pick up my paycheck Wednesday."

But it's not just the cost of gasoline that's had an impact on teen applications.

McDonald, who's worked in human resources at Knoebels for 13 years, said the pool of young candidates has been shrinking for the past five or six years.

She attributes the decline to their unwillingness to work for minimum wage and the dwindling need some teens have for extra cash because parents are footing the bills.

While there may be opportunities for youths who want to earn money locally, Rachel Smith, manager of work force research and development at Central Pennsylvania Workforce Development Corp. in Lewisburg, said the national trend may begin to affect them as more of the labor force begins looking for extra income.

Right now, though, many of the traditional jobs available to youths in the Valley aren't getting much competition from older workers.

Morningstar said she specifically hires teens to staff her Italian ice shops because "My customers want to be served by young people."

The Valley Gun and Country Club in Elysburg is one of the largest employers of youths in Northumberland County.

Marian Schiavaroli, supervisor of the Penn State Sportsman Association, has about 300 youths ranging in age from 14 to their early 20s working each summer at the gun club, loading rifles and refereeing target shoots.

"Adults don't want to be out in the sun all day," she said, adding that the youths earn good pay for a short time of work and often have a second job at Knoebels Amusement Resort.

"For many of them this is their first job and they love it," Schiavaroli said. "They come back year after year."

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