The headlines are full of stories about young people gone wrong. Remember the kid who got away with murder because of ‘affluenza’, the young men killing strangers to prove their gang mettle, the girl who sued her parents to get college funding, and the roving group of thugs beating up homeless men for fun?
They are a world away from the one thousand teens who took to Boston streets a while back using their school vacation time to make a very public case for summer jobs. Teens from the Dorchester based Youth Jobs Coalition gathered in February for the 5th annual roving rally, lobbying private companies and dropping in on state lawmakers. These at risk teens are especially hard hit in a seasonal job market that is no longer the opportunity it once was.
These days you won’t see many of them at fast food drive through windows, convenience stores, or the ice cream shops. Teens who used to have those summer jobs have been replaced by adults securing minimum wage jobs to feed their families. It’s just one factor keeping teens from the job market in what’s become a perfect storm —the still wobbly economy, adult unemployment, and cutbacks in municipal and federal funding.
Mayor Marty Walsh has targeted private businesses, which not only have refused to hire teens, but have been silent about the reasons why.
In a story likening teen jobs to luxury goods, the Boston Globe’s Ruth Graham detailed an upstairs/downstairs reality. Graham reported that market studies by Northeastern’s Center for Labor revealed the teens likely to get jobs are those whose parents earn the most. The ones not likely to find work are the kids whose parents earn the least. Not surprisingly, white teens have double the chance of finding work as most black teens.
But 4,500 at risk teens will be lucky enough to land a job through the state funded YouthWorks Summer Jobs Program, a program whose budget last year was nearly eliminated. The legislature allocated $9 million for this summer. Governor Patrick added another million for the year round program.
YouthWorks gave now 22-year-old Cynthia Ocedueda her first job working at a day care center. Cynthia says working that job enhanced what she learned in school, and adds “all the skills I have came from what I learned on the job.” She is a chemical engineering student today.
There are multiple studies documenting the positive impact of teen summer jobs. Teens who work make substantially higher wages in life. They boost their chances of getting in and graduating from college. A teen with a job is the best prevention tool against long hot summers of street violence.
But so far that’s not been enough to persuade some private companies to employ teens. Only a third do. In a pledge to get 10,000 summer jobs, Mayor Marty Walsh has targeted private businesses, which not only have refused to hire teens, but have been silent about the reasons why. With a little less than a month before Boston’s last day of classes the mayor says he will work every day until then to get more teen jobs. Here’s hoping he succeeds.
Callie Crossley is the host of Under the Radar.
