In 1989, 56% of the 16- to 19-year-olds in America were actively participating in the workforce. This meant that an employer hiring a young person in the late eighties and early nineties had better
than a one-in-two chance that the young person they were considering understood what it meant to hold a job.
In 2012, however, only 33% of those in the same age group are actively participating in the workforce. And the numbers for African-American and Hispanic teens are much lower.
That means today’s employers are forced to roll the dice in hopes of landing that one-in-three among job applicants who has any clue of what it takes to get and keep a job. The remaining 66% won’t truly realize that having a job requires them to arrive on time, dressed appropriately, that they must take direction, and that they must be ready to work hard to create value for their employer regardless of the tasks they are assigned.
These findings are a part of a stunning white paper report compiled by Patrick J. Holwell, a workforce economist for the Arapahoe-Douglas Workforce Center in Denver, Colorado.
Holwell’s research shows a steady decline in teen employment since 1989, proving that this downward trend (and today’s dismal participation by teens in the workforce) can’t be blamed on the most recent recession. While many teens aren’t working because they can’t find employment, many others simply don’t want to work or their parents are over-scheduling them with school and extra-curricular activities making a job difficult or impossible.
Sadly, the majority of the next age cohort is woefully unprepared to join the labor force and the current — and future — waste of economic potential is staggering, to say the least. Across all industries, business operations are likely to suffer when hiring and training costs increase; and how could they not escalate exponentially?
There are solutions to reverse this trend. Holwell provides several suggestions for concerned employers:
1. Work to ensure teens have more paid or unpaid employment opportunities, particularly over summer
- Subsidized summer employment coupled with academic remediation for lower skilled teens
- Partner with area businesses in key regional industry sectors to provide paid or unpaid internships for local teens throughout the year
- Boost efforts to connect employers willing to hire inexperienced teens with teens wanting work
2. Find ways throughout the year to provide formal training for teens in the skills necessary to find and keep a job, and advance their careers
John F. Kennedy once said, “A rising tide lifts all boats.” Employers who don’t hire teens should realize that their future workforce are teens now, and that my stretching to provide opportunities for youth now will pay huge dividends for their particular employment boat in a few short years.
SHAMELESS PROMOTION: I’m proud that Holwell’s agency, ADWorks, was the first workforce center in the country to pilot my Bring Your A Game to Work program for youth. Over the past 3 years, ADWorks has put more than 500 teens and twenty-somethings through this work ethic training and certification program, and 98% of the employers who’ve hired them have reported a high level of satisfaction with these young workers. That’s a remarkable improvement from the 50% satisfaction rating among those same employers that have hired youth who’ve not been through the training.
This is an alarming trend indeed. While I acknowledge many factors have created this decline, I assume that many kids don’t “have to” work; parents are providing and see work as an intrusion on studies and other activities. As a kid who was lucky to be raised on a farm and have no choice in learning work ethic,I believe as you do that the value of work isn’t just monetary but in providing skills and preparing young people for future employment. We need to encourage kids old enough to work part time, not just for what they can earn but for what they can learn. And I’m staring with my own kids.
I agree with Mark…disturbing and alarming. I know quite a few 20-somethings and the trend I have noticed is those with parents who spoiled them had repeated difficulty holding jobs while those with parents who set strong but appropriate boundaries coupled with accountability were able to understand the WHY behind their upbringing and were better able to apply it to job skills. Maturity is developed through active, purposeful, thoughtful participation in life…. it’s not automatic.