Friday, May 9, 2014

A Sharp Decline in Work for Youth is Depriving a Generation of Key Skills

Ruth Graham writes at the Boston Globe:
As recently as 2000, 45 percent of Americans age 16-19 worked in some capacity in an average month. These days, only about a quarter do, the lowest rate since just after World War II. Last summer, just over 30 percent of teenagers had a job in June or July, when teen employment tends to peak.

That has many experts wondering just what will happen to the vast majority of today’s teens, who are not working at all. “This is the first generation that will not have major work experience as part of their adolescent development,” said Jeylan Mortimer, a sociologist at the University of Minnesota who has studied teenagers and work. “This raises major concerns.”

Teenagers who work in high school do far more than earn extra spending money. They end up with better adult jobs and higher incomes, according to studies, as well as stronger “soft skills” like dependability, punctuality, confidence, and communication. For boys, especially, the chances of enrolling in and graduating from college are significantly higher for those who worked in high school. “Work experience matters a lot,” said Paul Harrington, director of the Center for Labor Markets and Policy at Drexel University. “It matters for every kid, in every way possible.”

7 comments:

  1. Also, who dates a guy that doesn't even have a job? I never did and my daughters never have and my father, my uncles, brothers and brothers in law always had a job until and unless independently wealthy. I can't imagine who all these young men are seeing socially. Are women's expectations going to be substantially lowered?

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    1. A lot of girls date morons. News at 11.

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    2. It depends. There are things a lot of women value over employment, good income, etc these days.

      Employment will always be popular on the list of things women will state they want in public, but those same women will often complain about all the jobless bums they've dated, so go figure.

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    3. Girls don't need to date guys with jobs anymore because feminism.

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  2. Oh hey, no worries. You can always just legislatively mandate higher wages for these kids. Right?

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  3. Darn, a few teenagers are still finding jobs. Hike the minimum wage!

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  4. Not to worry, state control of education has extended adolescence until age 30. Problem solved!

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