Summer jobs used to be a sure thing. Painting homes. Hawking hot dogs. Selling T-shirts in the mall.

Not anymore.

With unemployment nearing 10 percent in Snohomish County, adults aren’t the only ones having trouble finding work.

Teens are having an unusually hard time finding jobs this summer. Positions they used to fill are being scooped up by more experienced workers who have been laid off and are settling for low-wage, low-glamour jobs.

“There should be some jobs for the teenagers, but there’s going to be a lot of people looking for those jobs too, unfortunately,” said Donna Thompson, an economist who studies labor trends in Snohomish County.

Teens are finding it more difficult this year than last to find work at some of the mainstays of summer employment — selling clothes at the mall, busing tables and leading camps.

In Snohomish County this May, there were 1,300 fewer retail jobs than last May, 1,000 fewer positions at restaurants and bars, and 700 fewer jobs in arts, entertainment and recreation fields, Thompson said.

Some local teens say employers are favoring older workers with more experience and families to support.

“It’s kind of hard to get a job because they want to get people who actually need a job,” said Karolynne de Sota, 17, of Granite Falls. “Since we’re still with our parents, we don’t really need a job. At the places I’ve looked at, they said it would be hard to get a job.”

De Sota said she applied for jobs at fast food restaurants in her hometown, but didn’t receive any interviews. She’s hoping to find a science job in a lab, but with the recession, she’s not optimistic.

Even baby-sitting and yard work hours are harder to find this summer, said Daphne Pelk, 13, of Bothell. She baby-sits about once a month — half as much as she used to.

“They’re a little harder to get because there’s all these other kids trying to get them,” she said. “I’ve tried getting along with the kids better. I’ve been taking more classes on baby-sitting because that’s more attractive to parents.”

The news isn’t all bad, however.

Taxpayer money set aside in President Barack Obama’s stimulus package is expected to fund 243 jobs for young people in Snohomish County this summer. The Lakewood School District is using stimulus funds to hire 148 students, while the Center for Career Alternatives is hiring 95 youths who have graduated or dropped out of school.

The workers, who are as old as 24, are guaranteed at least six weeks of employment earning the minimum wage or more, said Heather Villars, spokeswoman for Workforce Development Council Snohomish County.

Alissa Lumsden spent last Wednesday and Thursday visiting potential employers and collecting applications. By Thursday afternoon, the 17-year-old Everett girl had applied for 25 jobs at grocery stores, fast food joints and retail stores. She said she was told by McDonald’s not to bother applying, but she also received some positive feedback.

She had one interview scheduled and another in the works.

“You don’t want to come off as being desperate, but you want them to know you want the job,” she said, as she filled out at a stack of applications in the Everett Mall food court Thursday.

Kayla Scott, 20, of Gold Bar, is also hopeful she’ll find a job. In two days, the cosmetology student applied to 10 jobs.

Her plan was to target places in her field — mostly salons and cosmetics stores. She went from place to place with a stack of resumes, wearing professional clothes and a fresh coat of black nail polish.

“In my field as a cosmetologist, there’s a 100 percent hiring rate,” she said, as she filled out an application. “People need their hair done. Everywhere they need people, which is why I’m in school for it.”

There are jobs to be had, she said, you just need a good strategy and some persistence.

Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292 or kmanry@heraldnet.com