September 24, 2007

Now that high school students across the country have returned to the structured environment and disciplined instruction of their school classrooms, mayors across the country are asking, how did they spend their summer vacation? According to a new report from the Northeastern University Center for Labor Market Studies, an alarming number of them didn’t spend it working. The national teen summer employment rate dropped to a new low in 2007, the lowest employment rate for teens in post-World War II history. Teen labor market conditions have deteriorated for all major demographic groups, but African-American and low-income teens face the bleakest job prospects.

The nation’s mayors have long advocated reinstatement of the Federal Summer Youth Employment program. It is a cornerstone of the Ten-Point Plan to Build Strong Cities and Strong Families for a Strong America. At the 75th Annual Conference of Mayors in Los Angeles, mayors called on lawmakers to reinstate the targeted Summer Youth Employment Program in order to correct the government’s mistake in eliminating summer job opportunities for at-risk young people.

The Federal Summer Youth Employment Program, eliminated in 2000, provided much needed access to the labor market for young people with limited exposure to career opportunities. This early work experience improved communication skills, problem-solving skills, teamwork and computer skills — all skills that employers look for.

At the same time, summer jobs enhanced soft skills like attendance, manners, self-confidence and the ability to get along with others. Because of changes in technology, globalization and the aging of our population, the workplace high school students will enter is very different from that their parents or grandparents knew. Even to apply for many jobs, applicants will need the computer skills required to complete the employment application. And they will need to know how to get along with people from different cultures, backgrounds and age groups, have the ability to be flexible, be willing to cooperate, and continue learning throughout their lives. Quality summer jobs provide these very skills for youth first starting out in the labor market.

As concerns about gang activity and youth violence in cities increase, mayors know that keeping young people engaged in constructive and supervised activities is one of the best ways to keep them on the path to a productive future. When the Federal Summer Youth program was abolished, mayors across the country developed strong public-private partnerships and mounted aggressive campaigns to keep summer programming available to their young residents. They turned to foundations and spent considerable general revenue dollars to make up for the loss of federal funding, but despite their best efforts, they have, unfortunately, not been able to meet participation levels of the years prior to the elimination of the federal program.

According to a recent U.S. Conference of Mayors survey of summer youth employment opportunities in cities nationwide, scores of kids who applied to participate in the Summer Youth Employment program in those cities were turned away for lack of funding. For example, in New York despite a $32.4 million city investment in the program by Mayor Bloomberg, 35,000 youth were unable to be served. And in Chicago, despite Mayor Daley spending $2 million of city funding alone to support the program, 18,760 youth seeking jobs had to be turned away.

There is no way of knowing how many of these kids simply spent the summer languishing at home, but it is a safe bet that in high poverty and high crime neighborhoods the number who found themselves connected to a valuable work experience was extremely low. At a time when the country and the economy demand workers with increasingly higher skill levels, it can ill afford to deny to so many young people the valuable exposure to work that will equip them with the jobs skills and soft skills needed for higher earnings in early adulthood.

The Conference of Mayors is asking Congress to revisit this issue and reexamine the factors that led to the program’s elimination. There is an urgent need to reinvest in our nation’s young people. For more information on The U.S. Conference of Mayors Summer Jobs Reinstatement campaign, please contact Kathy Amoroso at kamoroso@usmayors.org or Melissa Grothus at mgrothus@usmayors.org.