Best-Paying Summer Jobs

Getting a summer job is a rite of passage for many young people. In addition to earning wages to help pay for tuition or make car payments, it's where many first-time employees learn the fundamentals of work -- showing up on time, teamwork, communicating effectively, managing workloads and more. But summer jobs can also be fun, giving teenagers an opportunity to bond and hang out with a group of people beyond their schools and neighborhoods.

In recent years, because of the recession and subsequent slow recovery in the labor market, summer jobs have been hard to come by for many teenagers. This year, many economic indicators point to an improved job market, suggesting that high school and college students looking for work this summer may have an easier time of it.