Young Workers Falling Behind

The nation’s teenagers and young adults are being left behind in the U.S. labor market, suffering greater job losses than their older counterparts during the recent economic downturn and earning substantially less than their peers a generation ago. These are conclusions of a new report released by the National League of Cities based on research by Northeastern University’s Center for Labor Market Studies.

The report, "Leaving Young Workers Behind"finds that with rising numbers of young Americans, continuing weak labor markets, and an increasing premium on education, the job market prospects are likely to get worse for young Americans between the ages of 16 and 24, especially those with limited education.

Joblessness and unemployment are widespread among young adults. 43 percent of young adults face at least one serious labor-market problem such as unemployment, part-time jobs due to economic conditions, or inadequate weekly earnings.

· Earnings for young men have eroded substantially in recent decades. Adjusting for inflation, young men with no more than a high school education earned 25 percent less in 2000 than young men earned in 1973.

· Young Americans have been hardest hit by the latest economic downturn and the jobless recovery. For instance, summer employment in 2003 was down approximately 1 million compared to 2000.

· Growing numbers of young immigrants compound the challenge. Young foreign-born adults are less likely to have obtained a high school diploma and/or to be enrolled in high school or college, compared to their native-born counterparts.

· Fewer high school students are able to gain footholds in the job market, especially minorities. In 2002, only one in six black high schools students had a job compared to one in five Latino students and one in three white students.

Download the report here.