The Youth Unemployment Puzzle

Report Outline
Dimensions of the Problem
Federal Youth Job Programs
Developing a New System
Special Focus

Dimensions of the Problem

Youth Unemployment Rates at Record Levels

As the school year winds down, thousands of young Americans are beginning the annual search for summer jobs. But if past years are any indication, many youths will be unable to find work this summer. Youth unemployment is more visible during the summer months, when jobless youngsters spend their daylight hours on the streets rather than in school buildings. During the rest of the year, it generally takes an event like President Reagan's proposed “subminimum wage” for youth or House passage of a bill to create an “American Conservation Corps” to provide jobs for unemployed youth to focus attention on the problem. But statistics indicate that youth unemployment is a serious year-round concern.

Joblessness for 16- to 19-year-olds peaked at 24.5 percent in December 1982, the highest for this group since such measurements began in 1948, before slipping back to 22.7 percent in January and 22.2 percent in February. The overall unemployment rate in February was 10.4 percent. “We have a very serious job deficit for youth,” said Sar Levitan, an economics professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The dimensions of the problem are worse for minority youths. Blacks aged 16–19 had a February unemployment rate of 45.4 percent, almost two-and-one-half times higher than the rate for white teen-agers (19.7 percent).

Some economists and social scientists believe these statistics underestimate the extent of the problem, especially for minority youth. Labor-force participation for black youths in February was 33.5 percent, down 3.5 percent from one year earlier, and 23 percent lower than comparable figures for white youths. Because of their high unemployment and low participation rates, only 18.3 percent of all blacks aged 16 to 19 were employed in February. The comparable figure for whites aged 16–19 in February was 45.4 percent.