Labor Day 2010 ends the worst summer on record for young job seekers.

More than 46 percent of young adults in the U.S. between the ages of 16 and 24 years old had summer jobs this year. It was the lowest record level of unemployment in 62 years since such data was collected, hitting a record 18 percent.

Many employers say fewer people are quitting jobs during this recession, leaving limited openings. When positions do open up, there are plenty of older, more experienced applicants available.

In many cases, adults who were out of work took jobs that youths might have had. Nearly 7 million Americans lost or quit their jobs between January 2007 and last December.

"The number of long-term unemployed in just 2 1/2 years has increased by a factor of five," Michigan State University economics professor Charles Ballard told The Detroit Free Press.

"An awful lot of what's going on is relatively low-skilled people who lost work when the recession got really bad and have never been able to find work again," he said. "That's a long-term concern."