Posted on 06/04/2005 6:57:27 PM PDT by Tarantulas
Fewer jobs for teens this summer - Unemployed less prepared for real world, report says
2005-06-03
by Jamie Swift
Journal Reporter
The scarcity of summer jobs for young people in King County and across the country has reached a crisis level, according to a report on youth employment released Thursday.
Nationally, less than 37 percent of teenagers are expected to be able to find jobs this summer. That's down from 47.5 percent in 1989 and last year's 42 percent, the lowest in the 57 years such data has been collected.
In King County, employment among teens 16-19 dropped 28 percent from 2000 to 2003, the report says.
"We're calling it a crisis,'' said Kris Stadelman, CEO of Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County, an independent nonprofit that completed the 16-page youth employment report.
More students dropping out
Compounding the job shortage, the report says, more students than ever are dropping out of high school, prompting experts to predict that American workers of tomorrow will not be prepared to compete in a global economy.
According to the report, the low-pay, low-skill jobs that have historically gone to high school students are now held by recent immigrants -- adding 1.8 million people to the workforce since 2000 -- older workers returning to the job market, and jobseekers who can't find work in their fields due to the sluggish economy.
"They're competing with elderly people to work at McDonald's,'' said Melinda Giovengo, manager at the Youthsource career training center in Renton, which primarily serves local high school drop-outs.
A Youthsource student, 18-year-old Ny'neshea Ray of Tukwila, said she's been frustrated by her summer job search.
"They don't have much jobs for older people now, so they're trying to take our jobs,'' said Ray. "Nobody really wants to hire us (young people). They don't think we're responsible enough.''
Public funding decreasing
Another factor contributing to the job shortage is a shift in public funding away from summer job programs for youth, Giovengo said. It wasn't long ago, she said, that King County had a summer work program that offered jobs to 300 young people; now that's down to just 18.
Wendy Hurst, career specialist at Kentlake High School, doesn't know the statistics, but she's noticed the trend. The number of postings on the summer job board at the high school has decreased year after year, she said.
"It's not just summer jobs,'' she said. "When I first got into this (six years ago), our graduates were walking out of here getting manufacturing jobs making $15 or $16 an hour. That's just not happening anymore.''
Young people from low-income families will be hurt most by the job shortage because they don't have the established networks that middle- and higher-income kids do.
"In a tight market, the network is key,'' Stadelman said. Teens from higher-income families "have a broader network to link into jobs that are available to kids.''
Working teens from upper and middle income families also earn significantly more money (nationally, an average of $12.39/hour) than working teens from low-income families ($6.90/hour).
The significance of the spiraling drop in summer jobs goes far beyond the fact that fewer young people will have money to see a movie or pay for car insurance, Stadelman said.
Teens who don't work in the marketplace are less prepared for the real world, thus creating a less competitive American workforce, Stadelman said.
Young adults of today will be expected to replace the workers of the Baby Boom generation, "some of the best educated and most productive workers in our history,'' Stadelman said.
"Where are those kids going and what are we going to do when they're our workforce?'' Stadelman said. "How do you cope with that drop in education level and competitiveness of your workforce?''
But it's even more than that, she said.
"Those first jobs really shape us,'' Stadelman said. "It helped us decide what we were good at; what we hated; and that school was more important than we thought. You find out the rules of work: show up on time, be respectful, and to work as a team.''
By way of helping to solve the job shortage, the Workforce Development Council report suggests connecting employers with young people, increasing public investment in youth work programs, and providing more rigorous coursework in schools.
Jamie Swift can be reached at jamie.swift@kingcountyjournal.com or 253-872-6646.
THE REPORT
View the youth employment report in its entirety at http://www.youthatwork.info/
There is obviously only one way to solve this problem. Drug test the kids, and give driver's licenses to illegal aliens.
Wow ridiculously high minimum wage??? It's something like five and a half here in NY. Imagine what that is after taxes. It's not high at all.
You could also have a surplus of BMWs by bringing 100,000 of them into a market that only had 10,000 buyers. I suppose you could sell all 100,000 of them for $10 each but what would be the point? They cost more than $10 to make.
That is essentially the situation in Mexico. People there are working for maybe $5 per day and they still are facing massive unemployment (around 25%). The cost of living in Mexico is cheaper than here but even there, $5 does not go very far. If the wage drops below $0.40 per hour there is not much point in working because you are going to starve whether you work or sit.
I'm sure if we eliminated the minimum wage somebody would create jobs for our kids at the Mexican $0.40 per hour labor rate. I would frankly rather have a tight labor market where the minimum wage was a non-issue because everybody was earning more. This can be made to happen by limiting the supply of illegal workers.
Lucky you! But your lawn care kid is 17 - you'll see what it's like to find another in the next year.
I used to hire teens for lawn care and snow shoveling. They won't do it anymore. I'd hire a teen in a nanosecond. But now I have to hire services, and they send out Hispanics. Do I know if they are legal? No, but they do a good job, and I don't have an alternative.
I think this is a bigger issue here. High school dropouts tend to not be highly valued employees. I mean, if you can't finish high school, what *can* you do? Don't drop out of high school and then come crying that you can't find a job! High school dropouts enjoy no competitive advantages in the job marketplace whatsoever.
If they paid Americans a decent wage, they'd do the work.
Here here sunnyD! Our economic policies, if they continue, will create more of a need for socialist welfare programs.
EXACTLY RIGHT.
a job as a waiter/waitress used to be something young people did - summer job, part time, working through school. nows its a career for people, its actually one of the better paying professions out there.
The price determines the number of buyers. Do you posit there is no demand for more work to be done in the U.S.? I can think of no end to the things I'd like to have done, the only sticking point is the price of labor to achieve those acts. The Demand for labor is infinite, it's price that determines how much labor is employed (cleared from the marketplace supply pool).
I'm sure if we eliminated the minimum wage somebody would create jobs for our kids at the Mexican $0.40 per hour labor rate.
Kids wouldn't take them, since they can find more productive employment already. Even with no minimum wage I wouldn't be able to find someone interested in mowing my lawn for $0.40. 10 year olds want at least $10 for the job. The marginal utility of their free time is held in higher esteem by them.
Our employees are all legal and I won't touch a white kid with a ten foot pole! I tried that and they can barely wipe their *%*% without needing someone to help them. Frankly, our experience has been that if you need to have a solid day's work doing steady repetitive things, forget anyone with a so-called education from our schools, hire a LEGAL immigrant and then ask them to refer their LEGAL friends - they're glad to have the work!
I'm doing my very first job this year, working as a councelor-in-training at Camp Summit. I'm a teenager (15), and a job as important as this really does make you mature. :)
Why is there ever unemployment then in a place like Mexico with no minimum wage? Why is the entire third world teaming with unemployed? We experienced a period like this in America to in the 1930s. If the demand for labor is infinite, it makes no sense that there would be anybody unemployed.
At some point, the market becomes so flooded with labor that nobody needs more at any price. It becomes like selling snow to Eskimos. They already have plenty.
Oh really, and what do teens have to offer for a better wage?
For a teenager with nothing much to offer an employer?
Local fast food joint I've visited is 90% Mexican and the rest is broken down by asian, black and only two white people.
I see your point, but given a chance employers will pay people as little as possible for the maximum amount of work. When was the last time you had a entry level job? You'd be surprised what employers are trying to get away with.
Oh I know it. I consider myself very lucky to have him around. Even his little brother will pitch in once in a while. I keep checking in with him, to see if he's too busy with school, football, ect...he likes the extra cash. I'll miss him when he goes away to college!
But now I have to hire services, and they send out Hispanics. Do I know if they are legal? No, but they do a good job, and I don't have an alternative.
I just got a flyer for lawn services, and it says "We Speak English, and we actually show up!"
Once Ryan goes off to college, they'll be next on my list!
"Oh really, and what do teens have to offer for a better wage?"
Work. I have watched teens work in yards pulling weeds for $6 an hour around here. It is very hard work. So is working in agricultural fields in the sun. Try it sometime if you don't think unskilled labor deserves a fair wage.
"I see your point, but given a chance employers will pay people as little as possible for the maximum amount of work. When was the last time you had a entry level job? You'd be surprised what employers are trying to get away with."
Excellent point. There are countless examples that abound. My best friend works in a mom and pop store. She is off the clock at closing time, but is expected to have all the cleaning and meat cutting (for the deli) done before the end of her shift. The problem is that she is there alone, and from 5-9, she is very busy. She hasn't the time to get these things done, so she stays at least an hour every day, unpaid, after work to get everything done. To add insult to injury, she makes minimum and the boss will not allow her to work the day shift because he says "she's better on the night shift." In truth, he knows he can get one hour of free labor out of her at the end of her shift. He won't even take into consideration that her retarded brother needs her home at 4 when he returns from day care.
I once cleaned this lady's house for extra money once a month. She paid me $10 an hour. She always had me to her windows, even if it was over 100 degrees outside. Some of these windows required climbing through thorny bushes or getting on a ladder to get to. Then after that, scrubbing rock floors on my hands and knees or standing on a ladder cleaning her ceilings. I had to take prescription strength drugs or drink a half a bottle of wine to walk without pain afterwards. After I found out she and her husband's combined income was $150,000 per year, I quit. This woman would make sure she got 5 hours of labor exactly and never gave me a penny over what she owed me. No bonus at Christmas either.
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