Posted on 05/09/2014 4:45:35 PM PDT by Red in Blue PA
As chief operations officer at the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, Stephanie Caldwell knows her California region's high education levels helped buffer the worst of the recession's job losses. But the affluent community still suffered. "During the recession we were hit hard. Teens were having trouble finding jobs," she said. "After- school and summer jobs were definitely being taken by older people. Go to any Starbucks (SBUX) and you can see that. Hopefully with the economy picking up, that's starting to change.
Teen employment has plummeted in a trend that long predates the Great Recession, worrying economists across the political spectrum. In the current labor market, any black mark can doom a worker: lack of education, inexperience, even a presumed sense of not needing the work enough. Teens are at the bottom of the totem pole, with all those strikes against them.
"Most businesses don't wake up and say, 'I've got a job to fill. Let me go find an inexperienced worker with no transportation,'" said John Hogan, CEO of the San Jose-based advocacy group TeenForce, which tries to make that a more palatable choice for employers.
"We have a large cohort of youth with no work experience, even in their 20s," said Keith Hall, a former commissioner at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. "There's a big chunk of people who are long-term unemployed who have never had a job. There's almost certainly more who are discouraged.
'Shocking' Decline
The scope of the situation is "shocking," said Hall, now at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, a research think tank. Among teens, 26.9% have jobs vs. 46.3% in April 2000.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
OK that is interesting.
So what is the GOP going to do about it?
The GOP does not appear to be interested in American jobs.
Raise the minimum wage. That will certainly help.
< /sarcasm >
The GOP will win, if the GOP starts looking out for AMERICANS.
Stop sending American jobs overseas.
Bring American jobs back to America. Stand up Republicans.
Hmmm. The minimum wage in 2000 was $5.15. It is now $7.25. And teen employment has plunged, you say? Do you think that there is a connection?
I’m guessing that these numbers don’t include drug sales as a career path. ;-)
Kind of funny, but that is exactly what our company does for one position here. Unfortunately, the kids quit after a few months because the work is "too hard." The job requires sitting at a computer for five hours and hitting the space bar at key moments now and then.
If a teen wants a job, he needs to package himself as an independent contractor. That way he can avoid minimum wage and Obamacare.
The "immigrant reform" advocates just want to help our young folks so that they don't have to work.
the youts wanted hope and change!
"The White House said that the move would have profoundly positive effects for low-income families without unduly burdening businesses or raising the unemployment rate. It cited research showing “no detectable employment losses from the kind of minimum wage increases we have seen in the United States.”
I guess 'no detectable' falls into the same category as 'smidgeon' now.
In the late sixties I worked for fifty cents an hour. Every teen in my little home town who wanted a job, had a job.
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