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PARKERSBURG - Local employers say the number of teens working for them has remained consistent with past years, but nationwide teens are seeing an increase in unemployment.

The U.S. Department of Labor's August 2009 statistics show the teen unemployment rate was 25.5 percent, the highest since the labor department started monitoring teen unemployment in 1948. With a civilian workforce of around 6.4 million teens nationwide, around 4.8 million were employed in August while 1.6 million were unemployed, the labor department reported.

West Virginia statistics are unavailable, but the economic downturn is causing problems for teens trying to find even part-time work, said Ben Parker, Director of the Research, Information and Analysis Division for WorkForce West Virginia.

''Teens are struggling like everyone else, probably more so,'' he said.

Several local employers who regularly hire teens for part-time work said their numbers have remained steady.

''We have the same numbers as we have always had,'' said Jim Oppe, owner and president of the local Foodland franchise.

Foodland has hired teen workers to bag groceries during the evenings and weekends.

''Things have been pretty stable,'' Oppe said. ''I don't see us changing our numbers anytime soon.''

Local Wendy's Restaurant franchises are also not seeing a significant change in their number of teenage employees, said Ray Blackburn, owner of 15 local franchises.

''We have not seen a decrease or increase,'' he said.

Out of 456 employees at their 15 locations, 153 are school-aged employees who work from 4 to 10 p.m. on weeknights and a range of shifts on Saturday and Sunday.

''That 153 accounts for 33.55 percent of our workforce,'' Blackburn said.

Blackburn has seen a stabilization across his work crews in the area as more businesses are hiring right at the minimum wage level. This has put many businesses on equal footing in hiring part-time employees.

''There are not too many businesses starting above minimum wage. That has allowed us to hold on to people longer. I have noticed this year that crew retention has improved by 20 percent," Blackburn said.

"I think that employees are holding onto their jobs longer now and I think that most businesses are on the same playing field now the minimum wage has been increased to $7.30 in Ohio and $7.25 in West Virginia.''

Blackburn started with Wendy's when he was 16 and around 30 years ago. Over the last 20 years, he has been the owner and operator Wendy's franchises in Parkersburg, Marietta, Vienna, Belpre, St. Marys, Mineral Wells, Ravenswood, Ripley, Spencer, Pomeroy, New Martinsville and New Lexington.

''I started with Wendy's back in 1979 as a crew member making $3.15 an hour,'' Blackburn said. ''As a crew member at Wendy's it teaches you teamwork where you have to have every position and know their primary responsibility and their secondary responsibility also.

''I feel that as a manager of Wendy's they taught me about all the many different hats that a manager has to wear, sales building, development of your subordinates, human resources, marketing and preventive maintenance of your equipment, just to name a few.''

Many Wendy's managers start there at a young age.

''Out of our 98 Management members 69 (71 percent) of them have been promoted from the crew member ranks,'' Blackburn said. ''We like to give high performing crew members the opportunity to grow by letting them run shifts, be in charge of a system such as the cleaning chart or training a new crew member on a position. That way we can see how they will respond in the management ranks.''

Many Wendy's employees learn how to work with others which will serve them where ever they go in life.

''When someone leaves Wendy's they take with them that mind set of teamwork and it helps them in any job or task they take on,'' Blackburn said.

Kroger's is seeing a slight rise in applications for part-time work, said Anne Jenkins, advertising and community relations Director for the grocery chain's Mid-Atlantic Marketing Area.

''We are experiencing a steady flow of applications from individuals seeking part-time employment both in (the Parkersburg-Belpre-Marietta) area and across our Mid-Atlantic region,'' she said. ''The number of applications we are receiving is slightly elevated, presumably due to current economic conditions but also due to seasonal circumstances, such as filling the jobs of employees leaving to attend college and preparation for the holiday selling season.''

Locally, 3 percent of Kroger's workforce at its Parkersburg stores are teens, Jenkins said. In Ohio, it is 7 percent at the Belpre store and 5 percent at the Marietta store, she said.

For stores in the Mid-Atlantic region - North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee - teens comprise 11 percent of the workforce.

''We have had several (teens) stay with us and come back to work when on break from college, ultimately going into store management positions,'' Jenkins said. ''Teenagers are a valuable asset to our organization.''