"Out of
the Spotlight" Posting for May 20, 2010
As policymakers and the American public
continue searching for solutions to persistently high unemployment, one
demographic that shouldn’t be ignored is low-income youth workers. In a tight
economy, these younger adults are competing with and losing jobs to workers
with more experience, who have lost their own positions and have been forced to
take lower-skilled jobs to make ends meet.
According to a May 16 article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, only one
in four teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19 are currently employed.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate of this age
group is now at 23.5 percent, the highest level since records started being
kept in 1948. By comparison the national
unemployment rate is 9.9 percent.
Low-skilled jobs are often the only
option available for low-income young people to support themselves and their
families, and to gain work skills and experience. Given that low-income people in general are
already more likely to be
unemployed,
the employment difficulties facing young adults could have particularly serious
consequences.
The article notes that since the
recession hit in 2007, more than one million teens have left the work force and
are neither looking for work nor collecting unemployment. In addition to the
high unemployment rate now for this age group, losing out in the current job
market has the implications for their future employment. Job loss now means lack of skills and poor
future employment prospects. As researcher Andy Sum has noted, “lack of broad-based work exposure is harming both…
immediate and longer term job prospects and earnings. Employers are
increasingly critical of their (young people’s) lack of employability skills
and their poor work behavior, but they can only gain such skills through work
itself.”
Both houses of Congress are already
looking at legislation that would give up to $1 billion in funding to states to
create an estimated 300,000 summer jobs for teens.
As the debate on policy solutions for
unemployment goes forward, leaders need to consider these young workers, who
are struggling to succeed in job markets of the present and future.
Posted by Mike
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