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YOUTH AND WORKKIDS COUNT POLICY REPORT

PATRICE CROMWELL

FEBRUARY 11, 2013

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Data: Employment Declining for Youth, Especially Teens

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 20110

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

44

25

72

60

81

75

57

59

16 to 1920 to 2425 to 5455 to 64

Source: CPS data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Ages

Percent of Persons Who Are Employed

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Data: State-by-State DisparitiesEmployment Population Ratio (ages 16 – 19)

Percent of 16- to 19-year-olds who are employed

Highest Employment: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska

Lowest Employment: California, Florida, Georgia

Percent Employed

14 - 21

22 - 29

30 - 37

38 - 46

Source: PRB analysis of CPS data

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Data: 6.5 Million Disconnected Youth

Source: CPS data from the Center for Labor Market Studies, Northeastern University.

Youth struggling the most are less educated, come from low-income families and belong

to a racial or ethnic minority

Among these 6.5 million disconnected youth, 21% are parents with young

children in the home

Disconnected Youth Adults Ages 20 to 24Disconnected Youth Ages 16 to 19

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Youth and Work: Skills Gaps

1973 20070%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Master's Degree or better

Bachelor's Degree

Associate's Degree

Some College, No Degree

High School graduates

High School dropouts

• Economy has changed:

fewer jobs, outsourcing,

technology advancements

• More skills needed: Today’s

workers need increased

education credentials

• Businesses are hiring older,

more experienced workers

Number of people: 91 million 154 million

32%

40%

12%

9%

7%

11%

30%

17%

10%

21%

11%

Jobs Increasing for College vs. High School Graduates

Source: March CPS data, various years; Center on Education and the Workforce.

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Youth and Work: Challenges and Opportunities

• Challenges

– Public systems serving youth are often not well aligned, especially workforce and education

– Federal programs have different funding goals, eligibility criteria, performance measures and tracking

• Opportunities

– Local regions coming together to create comprehensive education, training and jobs programs for youth

– Effective skill-building programs showing promise: Youth Corps, Career academies with early work experience, sector training and bridge programs to college

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Youth and Work:Guiding Principles for Action

• Build on the national momentum underway and the partnerships that have emerged over the last few years

• Ensure young people’s voices and youth leadership are a key part of the work going forward

• Make closing racial and economic disparities the central focus of the work going forward

• Build solutions from what is showing promising results on the ground

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Youth and Work: Six Recommendations for Action

• Promote a national agenda and

public policy reform

– Set national goals, allow for flexible

funding, target resources to

disconnected youth

• Invest in local collaboratives in sites

to create multi-stakeholder

partnerships

– Bring employers, public agencies

and communities together to align

programs and resources

• Scale up effective programs

– Build on what works: programs with

education, training and mentorship

plus work

• Promote social enterprise and

microenterprise opportunities for

youth

– Foster entrepreneurship

• Help share employer best practices

and incentivize youth hiring

nationally

-- Earn/learn partnerships

• Take a two-generation approach –

link programs for young parents and

supports for young children in the

same family

– Consider supports for the children

such as early childhood education

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Youth and Work: Summary

• National momentum underway about improving youth opportunities

– White House Office of Community Solutions and many partners here

today like the Corps Network are improving youth policies and opportunities

• Casey eager to take part in the conversation. With our partners, we can:

– Scale effective practices and build evidence

– Bring focus on most-vulnerable disconnected youth:

youth in foster care and juvenile justice system and teen parents

– Support expanded business role in providing work experiences