Posted on 06/05/2005 12:59:12 AM PDT by GOPXtreme20
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/
Many of the teens have all they need for success in this world. A motor vehicle and lots of friends with motor vehicles.
I did yardwork as a kid. I had plenty of bottom rung jobs. I tried to do my best at each of them. I got pride out of doing a good job.
I don't follow...
Party of evil to work at a movie theater?
It's all thouse outsourced middle-aged IT workers, taking away teenager's spare-cash summer jobs.
I do notice some apparently outstanding young men and women. They have the world at their feet. The contrast makes them all the more valuable. I wish I were young again to take the opportunities that I see for these kids. It is so simple and yet so foreign to the majority of this generation. Almost all of the rising young contractors that I know came from south of the border. There are fortunes to be made and then there are Wal-Mart jobs. My people have chosen Wal-Mart jobs.
Coincidence?
I'm interested in knowing what business you operate that causes you to think that a 29% increase in payroll over 5 years isn't a negative factor in job creation.
Factor in that the minimum wage is 26% lower in 2004 than it was in 1979 and its not all that big a hit is it? BTW what kind of business do you operate where *everyone* makes minimum wage because that the kind of business that would see a 1:1 hit..
Party of evil to work at a movie theater?
A party TO evil. As in a participant or an accessory to something infamous and devoid of any moral quality; such as corporate enterprise, and the entertainment and the media industries of America. In the specific case of working in a movie theater, you are an accomplice to the moral destruction of human civilization.
Bullshit. I joined the Air Force and recieved more advanced technical training in 6 years than someone with a masters. Night school got me an associate degree. One semester after I got out I had a BS eng degree. The AF sent me to 5 advanced tech training courses that took 10-12 hours a day of concentration. Stupid crap isn't tolerated. That training must have cost over $100K 20 years ago.
There are jobs for microwave engineers and specialists that are going unfilled from California to Texas. Put those lazy, sloppy teenagers in the military so they learn some physical and mental discipline that college cannot provide. It works.
Yeah that would work great. Draft them all into the military. It solves a lot a problems right off. We won't have a problem with poor recruiting returns and casualties on the total numbers deployable. Great idea!
Yes, there are some very bad movies, most of them actually, but there are some gems from time to time, such as: "The Gospel of John", "The Passion of Christ", and other lesser-known movies. I really don't see working in a movie theater as being an accomplice to the moral destruction of civilization. What better place would there be to witness to people than a place where many lost people gather? The movie companies and theater chains are going to make profits whether they have moral employees or not, why not make some of their profits go toward good, rather than evil? Jesus was not afraid to be seen with sinners, they were exactly the people who needed to hear his message.
Except that you are not allowed to... company policy.
I wasn't allowed to tell parents it's wrong to take a 4 year old to horror films at 1am. Nor was I allowed to criticize them for making light of his crying and obvious displeasure at what he was being to see. Those parents had money... that is all. Nothing else matters unless they disturb other people who also have money. As my manager once said, "we're not out to enforce morality. We're out to make money."
The movie companies and theater chains are going to make profits whether they have moral employees or not, why not make some of their profits go toward good, rather than evil? Jesus was not afraid to be seen with sinners, they were exactly the people who needed to hear his message.
But would Jesus expedite the worship at the temple of sodomy and perniciousness?
No, of course he wouldn't. No matter where I worked I would never let company policy keep me from doing God's will. They can fire me if they wish, but God's commandments are much more important to follow than man's.
NO! Because you've had a succesfull first career that's now elsewhere (and don't hand me that manufacturing has been overseas for sometime now crap...I was in IT and current with skills).
In sum... you'll do the work Americans won't do... just try to get hired!
It's not only me, either, friends!
I did most of my hiring when the current homeschooling movement was nascent but it would make sense. The best predictor of a good employee that I found was the quality of the parents. Concerned, engaged parents would be most likely to homeschool and most likely to have instilled a core of values in a child. Homeschooling would also mean that the child has less exposure to corrosive influences found in the public schools.
Well, I deify you to find a job this day and age where you won't have to do that at least once a week.
sans the "I" on the deify.
Two words: Minimum Wage
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.