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Unemployment Among Teenagers Remains Stubbornly High [Recipe For Urban Riots?]
Wall St. Journal ^ | August 09, 2009

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 ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: atriskstudents; bhoeconomy; layoffs; teenagers; third100days; unemployed
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To: Steelfish

It’s almost as if EVERY ECONOMIST EVER was right about minimum wage laws, hmmm.....


21 posted on 08/09/2009 7:07:43 PM PDT by LifeComesFirst (Until the unborn are free, nobody is free.)
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To: Steelfish

Ask Mom and Dad if they voted for Hopey-Changey.


22 posted on 08/09/2009 7:09:28 PM PDT by Iron Munro (You can't kill the beast while sucking at its teat - Claire Wolfe)
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To: Steelfish

“Unemployment Among Teenagers Remains Stubbornly Hi”

Getting rid of illegals will fix that in a jiffy.


23 posted on 08/09/2009 7:09:28 PM PDT by wgflyer (Liberalism is to society what HIV is to the immune system.)
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To: Cloverfarm

Seems like more of those jobs are probably being given to illegals. Fast food establishments even require its employees to be bilingual.


24 posted on 08/09/2009 7:09:49 PM PDT by HungarianGypsy
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To: Steelfish

Let’s consider this for a moment...we could have the basis for “Cash for Clunkers Redux”...

Look at what unemployed Muslim Yewts did for the National Economy of France a couple of years ago...after just a few weeks of rioting they had burned nearly every private auto to the axles in the entire Country, most of which have surely been replaced by those evil insurance companies by now...

And if State-Run labor union muscle can be used to break a few heads and put down the rioters, we have the potential for a real Win-Win here...


25 posted on 08/09/2009 7:20:54 PM PDT by Bean Counter (No, I am Jim Thompson!!)
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To: Steelfish
2 word solution -

Midnight Basketball

26 posted on 08/09/2009 7:38:56 PM PDT by MrBambaLaMamba (Evil Whitey - Oppressing since 3000 BC)
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To: Steelfish

Idiots, minimum wages idiots, thanks for the post!


27 posted on 08/09/2009 7:48:56 PM PDT by sickoflibs (Socialist Conservatives: "'Big government is free because tax cuts pay for it'")
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To: Steelfish
if i have to pay a mans wage for a boys job, and a man and a boy apply for it, i'm going to hire the man.
28 posted on 08/09/2009 8:10:24 PM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist -ww- I AM JIM THOMPSON!)
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To: Chode

Except for unskilled and semi-skilled jobs (now the exclusive province of illegals), teenagers are for the most part unemployable. Get a criminal record, and its all over as far as job hunting goes.


29 posted on 08/09/2009 8:13:32 PM PDT by Steelfish
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To: Steelfish
bingo...
30 posted on 08/09/2009 8:24:11 PM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist -ww- I AM JIM THOMPSON!)
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To: All

My sons, now finished with college, were not able to find part time jobs until they were 18. I believe that there are many more regulations of those who employ teens than there were when I was a kid. We live in central OK.


31 posted on 08/09/2009 8:29:39 PM PDT by Montanabound
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To: Steelfish

Now we have to “bailout” teens or they’ll burn our cities down? Yawn.


32 posted on 08/09/2009 8:31:25 PM PDT by GOPJ (Liberal paid protesters ...http://209.157.64.200/focus/news/2310139/replies?c=22)
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To: Cloverfarm

This is true for some teenagers in my area. Also, some just don’t want to work at “certain” jobs.

My two oldest have been working since 16 yrs old and 15 yrs old at the same job. They’ve had the job (same place) for 2 1/2 and 2 years respectively. The latter also has an additional job for the same boss at a local pool. Their boss worked around their sports schedule during fall season (they play a fall sport). They both babysit and do serving for various catered events (for cash). This summer their hours were cut due to a drop in profits at the store/post office where they work. The oldest leaves for college soon so she won’t be working there except maybe during breaks and summers. She’ll have to find a job near her college after the sport season is over.

I don’t know what it’s like in other areas but here it seems that there are less jobs for teens but also a huge problem is so many teens here won’t work at certain jobs.

A neighbor’s daughter came home from college in mid-May, looked for a job, couldn’t find one she liked, so didn’t work. She’s almost 20 years old and never had a job!

So maybe it’s a combination of factors.


33 posted on 08/09/2009 8:47:20 PM PDT by Twink
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To: Steelfish

Most former entry-level jobs have been outsourced overseas or eliminated as companies close due to foreign competition. What few are left have increasingly been taken over by illegal aliens, and experienced workers displaced from their own careers by outsourcing, downsizing, and the recession.

I definitely feel for a kid looking for his/her 1st job right now. It’s gotta be rough.


34 posted on 08/09/2009 11:02:34 PM PDT by CowboyJay (RiNO - It's 'what's for dinner'...)
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To: CowboyJay

Depends on the area I think. Where I am, any teenager with transportation can get all the yard and odd work they want at $10 a hour. Anyone with even moderate skills can get $12. CT is bleeding young people. There is a shortage of healthy able people in this state.


35 posted on 08/09/2009 11:07:13 PM PDT by Brugmansian
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To: Brugmansian
"Depends on the area I think."

It must. Where I live, unskilled labor currently pays at or just above minimum wage and jobs are in short supply. Before the illegal invasion, the same jobs paid $10-$12 per hour, and anyone with a pulse could find something that would at least pay the rent on a 1 BR apartment.

Our tech sector has been hit extremely hard (mainly by outsourcing, but also from companies shuttering due to overseas competition). Plenty of degreed, experienced IT people manning call centers for $10-$12/hr, sometimes (increasingly) with no benefits. Those positions used to be staffed by HS grads. Must be a real pill to rack up a pile of student loans then find out you're worth $24K/year after graduation.

Companies advertising openings for entry-level office jobs paying $10/hr are routinely swamped with over 100 applicants for a single position.
36 posted on 08/09/2009 11:39:43 PM PDT by CowboyJay (RiNO - It's 'what's for dinner'...)
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To: CowboyJay

The problem here is its tough to get a 1 bedroom apartment if you make $10 and hour. So the jobs are there but the people to take them can’t afford to live here.


37 posted on 08/09/2009 11:44:13 PM PDT by Brugmansian
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To: Steelfish

City teens are not know for their legal employment.


38 posted on 08/10/2009 6:25:22 AM PDT by SaraJohnson
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To: TornadoAlley3
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 is a joke, right? They'll find a job for a kid who's a screw-up, but if you don't have at least one of those problems, you also don't have a job? Can I possibly be reading this wrong?

39 posted on 08/10/2009 9:42:21 AM PDT by nina0113
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To: nina0113
Nope, the link is above that post, and this is going on all over the country, not just in that state/county.
40 posted on 08/10/2009 10:00:36 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3 (Obama is everything Oklahoma is not.)
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