I started working as a dishwasher for a steak house at 13. Until I started having kids I worked. Now my 15 year old son who REALLY wants to work because he wants a car, gets told no one hires 15s because of the liability and restricted hours. In Nebraska 14 & 15s can only work after 4:00 pm and before 7:00 pm during the week with a total of 18 hours per week during the school year. What employer in their right mind would want to mess with that? None in my area.
This is probably a big factor. Here in CT we have similar restrictions.
I'll share my observations. My daughter just finished up freshman year of college. She's been working part time since 15 because I made it clear to her that I could only provide her with the necessities. I'm in construction so under the Obama boom, employment is spotty. The thing I noticed is the restaraunt where she works it's all teenagers. You don't see any of the local teens working at McDonalds , Wal-Mart or Home Depot because that's mainly hispanics and some underemployed adults. Target, Five Guys burgers and the local supermarket is where most of the teens work. No matter how the schools feed them the Orwellian "Diversity is our Strength" nonsense, teenagers want to work with their peers and where English is the main language of the work force.