HispanicBusiness

While the U.S. unemployment rate continued its steady upward march to 9.8 percent last month, reaching a 26-year record, the jobless rate for teenagers hit an all-time high.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the year from September 2008 to last month, teen unemployment soared by a third, to 25.9 percent -- the highest its been since the Bureau began keeping records in 1948.

Among African American teens, the jobless figure is a particularly high 40.8 percent -- a 37 percent increase from a year ago.

Some attribute this to how teens are facing competition from older, more skilled workers such as "stay-at-home moms looking to boost the family income to retirees seeking to supplement their pensions," John Challenger, CEO of outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas Inc., told the Wall Street Journal.

Others blame the recent minimum wage hike to $7.25.

The Employment Policies Institute, founded by conservative lobbyist Richard Berman, sent out a press release saying as much.

"Politicians continue to ignore the overwhelming evidence that minimum wage hikes increase unemployment among economically vulnerable groups like high school dropouts and African American teens," said Kristen Lopez Eastlick, Senior Research Analyst for the Employment Policies Institute. "The unintended consequence of the federal minimum wage hike is clearly pricing some employees out of the workforce, and based on September's unemployment data, it's minority teens who are getting hit the hardest."