Youth Employment Needs

A Comparison of California, Boston, Ma., and New York City/State

Employment opportunities for youth in the United States in general and in certain geographic locales in particular have been in decline in recent decades (Crosby 4). According to recent studies by Northwestern University's Center for Labor Market Studies, the 2004 unemployment rate in the United States for teenagers - 40.2 percent nationally - was the lowest since the federal government began collecting data on this issue in 1948 (Crosby 4). Teenagers were identified by this research as the most adversely affected group with respect to the recession experienced in the U.S. in 2001 and as the group least likely to have benefited substantially from the national jobs recovery that has taken place since the fall of 2003.

Other data reported by Crosby (4) highlighted this situation further:

. The unemployment rate for U.S. teens in June 2004

. Black teens were only half as likely as white teens to

hold a summer job (22.5 percent versus 44.5 percent).

. June unemployment among white teens in 2004 also fell to

Crosby (5) noted that the problem, though experienced in virtually all geographic locales and regions, was particularly acute in larger metropolitan community areas where competition for work roles traditionally occupied by adolescents o