Another bleak report for young people trying to make a living. Oddly enough the same stats from the AFLCIO study I posted this morning are similar to teens. And its probably important to mention that these are teens that WANT a job – not just teens being forced by their parents to wait tables over the summer.
Like their older counterparts, teens are the last to be hired and the first to be shoved out of the door in the recession.
“This August, the teenage unemployment rate — that is, the percentage of teenagers who wanted a job who could not find one — was 25.5 percent, its highest level since the government began keeping track of such statistics in 1948. Likewise, the percentage of teenagers over all who were working was at its lowest level in recorded history.
“There are an amazing number of kids out there looking for work,” said Andrew M. Sum, an economics professor at Northeastern University. “And given that unemployment is a lagging indicator, and young people’s unemployment even lags behind the rest of unemployment, we’re going to see a lot of kids of out work for a long, long, long, long time.”
The Times says this problem is related to new college grads who can’t find work who are forced to take part time work or lower wage service jobs because Baby Boomers that should be retiring aren’t financially stable enough so workers just can’t move up.
“Recent college graduates, unable to find higher-paying jobs, are working at places like Starbucks and Gap, taking jobs once held by their younger peers. Half of college graduates under age 25 are in jobs that do not require college degrees, the highest portion in at least 18 years, Mr. Sum said.
Likewise, the reluctance or inability of older workers to retire has led to less attrition and fewer opportunities for workers to move up a rung and make room for new workers at the bottom of the corporate ladder.”
The close of the piece suggests that the quick fix is for teens to go to college… unless of course you have to work through college, can’t afford to get loans? Well then you’re just hosed. Happy Labor Day!
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