Teen/Young Adult Joblessness Worsening
Please read NumbersUSA Executive Director Roy Beck’s blog -- In the Berkshires, Americans Do These Jobs – for more background on the link between high immigration levels and joblessness among teens and young adults.
A study of 10 major cities prepared by the Center in April, 2008 determined that the youth joblessness rate was highest in Washington, D.C. (86%), followed by Chicago (85%), and Detroit and New York (tied at 82%). Sum’s study measured the proportion of teenagers and young adults who are working. As a result, his figures are higher than Labor Department unemployment statistics, which measure the proportion of people actively looking for work. The following quotes from Sum included in the Post article provide some insight into why his choice of measurement is the better one:
“Not all kids want to work, but when kids can't find work, they stop looking…The kids who need work the most are getting it the least. There are a large number of kids unemployed and underemployed because there are simply not enough jobs for them…In the 1990s, teens benefited more than the average worker from the employment boom, with one out of every 10 new jobs…But teenagers did not get one net new job between 2003 and 2007. That's the first time that has happened in 40 years."
Sum concludes youths can’t pick up these new jobs because of competition from illegal aliens and other adults that take the low-paying service jobs. Their plight has worsened because of the economy’s shift away from high-wage manufacturing.