In a Tough Job Market, Teens Are Suffering Most

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Mathematica Policy Research, a nonpartisan group based in Princeton, N.J., has found in general that youth-training programs have limited success in boosting long-term employment or wages. In a 2006 study of a youth-training program meant to help teens complete high school and enter postsecondary education, Mathematica found that teens enrolled in the program did not have a comparatively better chance of finding a job or receiving higher earnings. Another study found that a teen-employment program tended to boost wages and employment, but the gains were mostly short term. Three years later, there seemed to be no difference between teens who had gotten job training and those who hadn't. Experience had closed the gap.

As a result, economist Heidi Schierholz of the Economic Policy Institute says the best thing we can do for teen unemployment is nothing, at least not directly. "If we focus on turning around the economy, teens will be a big beneficiary of that," says Schierholz. (See the top 10 everything of 2009.)

Northeastern's Sum disagrees. Along with year-round training programs, Sum likes the idea of offering employers a subsidy or tax credit for hiring teen workers. Others have proposed converting the current 90-day teen training wage to a permanent teen subminimum wage. While Sum agrees the minimum wage hurts lower-skilled teen workers, he says, in practice, subminimum wages are rarely used. Employers say paying some significantly less to do the same job hurts morale and seems unfair.

Economist Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research says he doesn't believe talk that the economy is going to grind to a halt just because teens aren't finding the on-ramp to the workforce. When workers hit dead ends, they often create new opportunities. Baker believes teens could be among the main beneficiaries of the falling dollar. He says that will lead to a resurgence of the nation's manufacturing sector, which has traditionally been a major employer of teens. (See how to plan for retirement at any age.)

And then there is the silver lining of low teen employment: with fewer work opportunities, more teens are staying in school and striving for higher levels of academic achievement. The school enrollment rate for 16-to-19-year-olds has risen to 83%, up from 78% in the mid-1990s. And 1.7 million high school students now take advanced-placement courses, three times the number who participated in them a decade and a half ago. With more and more high school grads out of work, teens are seeing a greater value in a college education. That, in turn, may eventually lead to a more skilled workforce, and not the other way around. "This is not going to be as devastating to the nation as people think," says Baker. Maybe, but just don't try selling that to teens like Iraheta and Allen-Mills, who want to work today, while they're still young.

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