Unlike some of the parents in my inner circle, I don't order my kids to get a full-time summer job as soon as they turn 14.

I believe today's kids, at least the academically engaged ones, may need at least some of the summer to catch up on socializing, sleep and the concept of a balanced life.

I believe kids need summers because they won't get too many off during the rest of their lives.

As much as anything, I believe in the power of human development.

When my 16-year-old daughter sees a pair of jeans at American Eagle she knows I'm not going to buy for her, she won't need me to order her to get a job. She will figure it out all by herself.

This isn't how it works in a lot of families. My friend, Lisa, makes all the teenagers in her house apply for a summer job, regardless. She wants them doing something productive instead of lying around the house potentially getting into trouble, she says — not bad logic and in fact, there may be as many good reasons for getting a job as not. Some of these involve not just making your own spending money, not just staying out of trouble, but learning important job skills that will give you a leg up later in life. These and other reasons, both pro and con, are fully explored at more4kids.info (http://www.more4kids.info/601/should-your-teen-get-a-job).

But while this might be an interesting topic for parental debate most years, during this particular season the discussion may be moot as analysts label this the worst summer for teen employment in 50 years.

"As the forces of economic downturn ripple widely across the United States, the job market of 2008 is shaping up as the weakest in more than half a century for teenagers looking for summer work, according to labor economists, government data and companies that hire young people," said The New York Times in May.

Reporting on the same phenomenon, CCNMoney.com last month said teen employment grew by only 683,000 jobs in June. "That's 38.7 percent below the 1.1 million new positions that teens were able to fill in June of last year."

Employees usually like to hire teens in the summer. It's a way to give young people a start in the professional world, while farming out the extra jobs that summer leisure creates.

But this summer, retailers are struggling with the decline in consumer buying power. Restaurants, where teens often go for summer work, don't feel they can hire as freely. Adults are staying in the work force longer. Or they are losing their regular jobs — 438,000 in the first half of 2008 — and then taking the jobs teens normally take.

This summer, in particular then, I would add one more reason not to order my child to seek employment. My rationale has to do with self-esteem, hope for the future and the almost certain potential for damaging both at an impressionable age in this depressed, and depressing job market.

Lisa's 16-year-old daughter spent the first two weeks of June applying at nine different restaurants and retail outlets.

"Not a single person ever called me for an interview," she said.