Summer employment among teenagers is projected to increase over last year’s better-than-expected gains, according to the annual teen summer employment outlook released Tuesday by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.

However, an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data reveals that more teenagers are opting out of the labor force entirely and have no desire to seek employment.

Last year, teen employment gains during the summer months improved significantly after falling to record lows in 2010. Non-seasonally adjusted data from the BLS shows employment among 16- to 19-year-olds grew by 1,087,000 jobs from May through June last year. That was up 13.2 percent from the same period a year earlier, when the teen employment ranks grew by just 960,000.

In 2011, the number of 16- to 19-year-olds not participating in the labor force, meaning they were neither employed nor actively seeking employment, averaged 11,048,000. Of that total, only 1,102,000 said they wanted a job. About 90 percent of the teens not in the labor force indicated that they did not want a job.

The 960,000 teenagers added to payrolls in the summer of 2010 was the lowest level of seasonal hiring since 1949, when teen employment increased by only 932,000 from May through July.

“The teen job market definitely rebounded in 2011, with more than 1,000,000 teens finding new jobs,” said John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “However, job gains among teens were still well below the levels achieved prior to the recession. While teen employment is likely to see further improvement this summer, job gains will probably once again fall short of pre-recession figures.”