Summer Employment Outlook For Teens ATLANTA, GA (WABE) - As the country's unemployment rate hovers around 10-percent, a new report indicates the nation's youth will also face tough times finding summer employment.
The outlook is even worse for African American high school dropouts.
WABE's Rose Scott has more on the report and how federal funding could help some Atlanta youth get summer jobs:

Georgia Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond says blame it on the recession.
The weak economy is forcing those who normally work in higher paying jobs to seek entry-level employment.

((this is a very difficult employment environment for all job seekers but especially for young people because they are now competing with adults for jobs that would have designated or focused towards youth))

And there are numbers to support the commissioner's claim.
A report from the Employment Policies Institute in Washington, DC indicates the unemployment rate for 16 to 24 year olds without a high school degree is 33 percent.
But it's much worse for African Americans:

((that rate is 60-percent and that's shockingly high than in 2007))

Michael Saltsman is a research fellow at the Institute.
He says because the face of the newly unemployed is changing Saltsman says teens are being overlooked for minimum wage jobs:
((when the government is going to force to pay a higher wage the person doesn't get hired))


But theirs is some good news for youth in Atlanta.
The city is getting 3.3 million dollars in federal aid to pay summer salaries for more than a thousand teenagers.
Deborah Lum is the executive director of the Atlanta Workforce Development Agency:

((for all the students they will receive 8-dollars and 50 a hour 3-thousand for the summer))

Lum says the students will be matched with non-profit and private companies for many of the teens it will be their first job.

((it's so important for the students to get work experience and be able to buy their supplies and clothes for the upcoming school year))

And there's also the teen works initiative with the state labor department which provides about 10-thousand jobs throughout the state.


© Copyright 2012, WABE