Posted on 08/09/2009 6:14:33 PM PDT by Steelfish
AUGUST 10, 2009
Unemployment Among Teenagers Remains Stubbornly High
ERICA ALINI
Economists don't see much relief for unemployed teenagers in a recession that has trimmed hires and pulled many adults into the scramble for jobs typically held by teens.
Unemployment of people ages 16 to 19 was a seasonally adjusted 23.8% in July after hitting a quarter-century high of 24% in June, the government said last week. That compared with last year's summer peak of 20.5%.
Caleb Cross, 16 years old, waits to apply for a summer job funded by stimulus money in Fort Worth, Texas, in June. Traditional teenage jobs now draw competition, for example, from "stay-at-home moms looking to boost the family income to retirees seeking to supplement their pensions," said John Challenger, CEO of Challenger Gray & Christmas Inc., an outplacement firm.
For white teenagers ages 16 and up, July's jobless rate of 22.2% was the highest since record-keeping began in 1954; among African-American teens, it was 35.7%, nearly four times the national average of 9.4%.
Layoffs and stock-market losses have increased parents' reliance on kids' part-time jobs to help pay for ever-rising college costs. A weak youth labor market is putting "a real crimp" in Americans' ability to afford a four-year degree, said Harvard University labor economist Lawrence Katz.
The scarcity of jobs also means more middle-class teens work at jobs that fatten wallets rather than résumés.
Emily Weingart, a sophomore at Boston University, sent out about 20 applications to find a summer internship at a veterinary clinic.
But the 19-year-old, who lives in Westport, Conn., heard back from only one employer, who later turned her down because, she said, "they didn't have the resources to train someone without experience."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
The minimum wage will help!
The recent increases in the minimum wage certainly make hiring the young and inexperienced more problematic.
But I guess Congress knew that when they passed it.
I'm sure that it's just a coincidence, couldn't possibly be related, could it:
From US Dept. of Labor:
Covered nonexempt workers are entitled to a minimum wage of not less than $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009. Overtime pay at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate of pay is required after 40 hours of work in a workweek.
The government needs to force people to give up some jobs to younger people and offer the lder ones fully funded assisted suicide
Yeah, they need relief. Better raise the minimum wage again and see if that helps. not.
How many of the supposedly unemployed teens are going to sports camp every weekend and can’t schedule a regular job?
No mention of illegal aliens? That seems like a glaring omission.
Sounds like “The Rich” are saving their money to help pay for Obama’s Freeloader Healthcare program instead of providing jobs.
You beat me to it.
Gee I wonder if all the illegal aliens affect the availability of relatively unskilled jobs for teenagers.
Yeah...the help (hostess/waitress) in a Marie Callender’s my husband visited couldn’t hardly speak English....
Too many are overqualified!
Federal stimulus provides work for low income kids
WALKER, Louisiana - The Livingston Business & Career Solutions Center is holding its first Summer Youth Work Program.
The program was made possible by federal stimulus money to help 36 youths between ages 14-24 with low income obtain employment. Along with nine other parishes, Livingston is participating in this experiment.
“The goal of this program is to help children become self-sufficient,” said Case Manager Virginia Dauzat. “The students work a typical 40 hour week and are paid $7.25 per hour. The jobs they have been given are mainly with the schools and in the parish libraries where they do primarily general office or custodial jobs.”
Youths that wanted to enroll in the program had to meet one or more of the following requirements:
1. Deficient in basic education skills.
2. A school dropout.
3. Homeless, runaway, or a foster child.
4. Pregnant or parenting.
5. An offender.
6. Lack employability goals and/or skills.
All applicants needed to be able to show proof of family income (W-2 forms or check stubs), Dauzat said.
“This program is already off to a good start,” Dauzat said. “There were 36 job slots available for this program when we began, and 29 were filled when applications were closed. The children are supervised at their work sites and must fill out time sheets that are sent to the central office in Hammond.”
“We’re very confident that this program will be very successful,” Dauzat said. “Children who participate in these temporary summer jobs will build work experience and references. This will give them the chance to pursue other options when the program ends. We’re hoping to do this program again next year.”
You can always send your 17 year old daughter to work at the local fast food with 40 year old illegal aliens. That should go over well.
I've never heard of such a thing before (excluding my past 50 years).
Traditional teen jobs around here vanished in favor of illegals a good while ago.
Nope -- they won't hire her. They'd rather hire another 40yo illegal alien who will stay on the job when school starts.
Summer jobs for kids are few and far between. My son will -- I hope -- have his first job-with-a-paycheck when he starts college this fall. His "job" this summer has been acting as occasional chauffeur for his younger siblings. (Which is really a big help to his mom and me.)
Crap education, high minimum wage, green laws driving manual factory work overseas, unionization of grunt work...all clearly designed to create the unemployed mass the left accuses the capitalists of desiring.
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