There are a group of hopeless and uneducated young adults in our nation who are struggling to find even minimum wage jobs.
Working ‘just to get by’ isn’t as possible as it used to be. In fact, for 4 million young adults, a job at all is extremely questionable.
After reading an Op-Ed article — “Out of Sight” — by Bob Herbert in the The New York Times last Tuesday about our nation’s at-risk youth, I found some breathtaking statistics about the lack of job opportunities.
According to Herbert, a disastrous unemployment number was released last Friday, claiming, “The official jobless rate had jumped one-half a percentage point in May to 5.5 percent – the sharpest spike in 22 years.”
The problem is that there is a vast group of young-adults and teenagers, between the ages of 16 to 24 years old, who are not in school and face tough odds in the job market.
According to Herbert, these “youngsters” are trying, but they are losing hope. After searching and searching for a job it is easy to get discouraged.
The summer job market, which has long been an important first step in preparing teenagers for the world of work, is shaping up this year as the weakest in more than half a century, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston.
My first question is what can we do to open up job opportunities?
And next, are there no second chances for the underprivileged? A basic education is a first step in the right direction, which should be easy for each and every person in our democratic nation.
Everyone has something to offer in this country and it is a shame to see such bright young individuals not given a chance. Job opportunity is just the very first step to making an individual make a difference in this world.
And David Jones, president of the Community Services Society of New York, a Corporate Voices strategic partner, provides some key insight in the context of Herbert’s column.
“These kids are being challenged in ways that my generation was not,” said David Jones, the president of the Community Service Society of New York, which tries to develop ways to connect these young men and women with employment opportunities, or get them back into school.
It is extremely difficult because, for the most part, the jobs are not there and the educational establishment is having a hard enough time teaching the kids who are still in school.
“Schools have not made much of an effort to bring this population back in,” said Mr. Jones. “Once you fall out of the system, you’re basically on no one’s programmatic radar screen.”
By: Amy Simon
Amy is a journalism major at Penn State who is interning this summer with Corporate Voices for Working Families.
June 17, 2008 at 8:46 am
I do not think that anyone can disagree that young people all across the board are facing problems in the job market. As a senior in college, I feel pressure myself, so I can only imagine what kind of difficulties present themselves to disadvantaged youths and/or those who lack education.
I am currently working at the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber is now working with Mayor Nutter to create summer internships to provide city children with employment. I see no reason why every city cannot come up with a similar solution.
http://www.greaterphilachamber.com/ProgramsAndEvents.aspx?PageContentID=261
June 17, 2008 at 9:14 am
Sarah,
Thanks for your comment. This is a tremendous issue facing not just young people but our country in general. For the past eight years I taught essentially senior-level courses at Kent State University. And I certainly agree with your perspective. It’s tough enough these days for college graduates to find the right first job — let alone as you say disadvantaged youth youths and/or those who lack education.
And congratulations on your work with the Greater Philadelphia Greater Chamber of Commerce. If you want send us some more information and we’ll write about it on this blog. Here’s my e-mail address: rjewell@cvworkingfamilies.org
June 17, 2008 at 3:42 pm
As my own college graduation looms in the immediate future, I am all too familiar with the uncertainties that accompany the accomplishment. Now more than ever, though, these uncertainties are magnified by constant reminders of an economy on the brink of recession and a rapidly shrinking job market.
Your argument extensively relies on David Jones’ theory of generational changes as an underlying origin of the employment woes for today’s young adults. Unfortunately, his argument embraces an exceedingly narrow view of the generational impact. Obviously our generation faces new challenges than those that came before; nowhere, though, is it mentioned that our unprecedented level of technological capability allows for the creation of countless new jobs.
You search for a solution to create job opportunities? The utilization of today’s youth’s unparalleled abilities provides a unique resolution: It will ultimately solve your problem, and the inevitability of this practice - the certainty of our ability to adapt - makes the question all but moot
June 17, 2008 at 4:21 pm
As I mentioned to Sarah, I spent the last eight years on a college campus. So I really do appreciate the concerns of students who are entering the job market these days. Yet I agree with you that the vast majority of college graduates will do just great; they will adapt and your point about technology is correct.
The point that Herbert makes — and the issue Corporate Voices focuses on a lot — involves the young people who are being left behind. Every year more than a million teenagers drop out of high school. That’s a national problem and one that we are going to have to deal with. Consider that I grew up in Pittsburgh in the 1950s/1960s. Many, many people worked in the steel mills without high school educations and had well-paying jobs and middle-class lives. Same when I came to Akron, Ohio, in the 1970s with BFGoodrich, then a major industrial manufacturer of tires. Those jobs are gone now. We’ve got to prepare young people for jobs today — and we have to make sure that jobs are available for you and others leaving college.
Anyway, this is a big issue. I hope you will continue to comment on our blog. I appreciate your viewpoint and would love to continue the conversation with you.