The percentage of teens with jobs in the year 2000 was at about 45%, and by 2011, this dropped to a mere 26%, the lowest it has been in the post WW2 era. States like California and Texas boast very low teen job rates, while on the other end of the spectrum, Provo, Utah has almost half of its teens currently employed. Though many of these teens are currently enrolled in school at the moment, many others say they would like jobs but just aren't looking for them. This report states that non-hispanic whites and young teens that come from higher income families are the most likely to have jobs. Blacks, young people from lower income families, and high school dropouts are the least likely to have jobs. The historic lows in job availability for young people is partially blamed on the education systems lack of preparing these students for having a job and going to school simultaneously.
http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/14/news/economy/youth-employment/index.html?iid=SF_E_River
It is to be expected that non-Hispanic whites teens who come from higher income families to be more employed. Their parents tend to be well connected with employers, teens tend to be well educated, and arguably teens tend to have more opportunities to work for their families' companies or shops. When you look at African American teens who come from low income families, their families tend to be less connected with employers, teens tend to have a very bad education, and African American teens are more prone to dropout of school compared to white.
ReplyDeleteAlso another reason why we are seeing teen and young adults not finding jobs at the moment is because older people that are losing their jobs or cant find jobs in there desired field are taking over jobs that teens used to have access to.
ReplyDeleteI believe the bigger problem is how these kids are being raised. There are more single-parent households then ever before, and parents aren't as strict with there kids as they were in the past. No one is pushing these under-privileged kids to go get a job or to stay in school. The jobs available for these kids are minimum wage at fast-food restaurants due to their lack of resources and not many people want to work those jobs.
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