Colorado ? You know the economy’s bad when teens can’t get summer jobs at fast-food restaurants or movie theaters.

So thousands are picking up shovels, brooms and trash in part-time jobs paid for with federal stimulus money, which includes $1.2 billion for youth employment.

To qualify, workers have to be 14 to 24 years old. They’re the part-timers who are often the first chucked from jobs when recession hits. Last month, the national unemployment rate was 9.4 percent. For teenagers, the rate was more than twice that, 22.7 percent.

“It’s very, very difficult out there right now for younger workers,” said Jeanne Mullgrav, commissioner of New York City’s Department of Youth and Community Development. City officials estimate that $18.5 million in stimulus money will support more than 13,300 summer jobs in museums, parks and camps.

Vice President Joe Biden has said the stimulus will create 125,000 summer jobs nationwide and help keep teens off the street and out of trouble. While that number is murky and largely unverifiable, local officials say they’ve been overwhelmed by applications for the new part-time jobs. Some agency waiting lists are in the thousands.