The Impact of Teenage Unemployment and Possible Solutions

Unemployment has always been something that Americans have worried about since the great depression in which one in every four people was unemployed. High unemployment has an impact on every one even those whom are still currently employed. For example if the unemployment rate is particular high then even those with jobs get worried. Unemployment is also separated in to distinct categories base on which group is the focus of the study. The categories can be by race, age or location, for example the unemployment rate of those between the age of sixty and sixty-five could be compared those between the ages of thirty and thirty-five. These categories allow economist to see which groups are the best and which groups are worst off. One group particularly bad off is the age group referred to as teenagers. This paper is going to focus on how teenage unemployment affects the economy and what possible solutions there are.

For teenagers typically the best employment is during the summer months due to the fact that they are out of school and thus have an increased amount of leisure time and many places require an extra source labor in order to accommodate for the rush which typically occurs during the summer months (Hall, 2013). In the year 1999 just above fifty-two percent of teenagers from the age of sixteen to the age of nineteen were employed for a summer job, however; the current employment rate for the same age group was around 32.25 percent in the past June and July an extremely low number especially considering that this was the peak teenage employment season (Hall, 2013). This has been compared to the great depression by some due to the fact that the numbers are somewhat similar to those seen during the great depression, in fact An...

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...to the fact the being employed increases college graduation rate and teaches many skills that are not taught with in any level of school. The issue is increased as because many of these teenagers are also not in school. A possible solution to this problem is for companies to offer apprenticeships to promising high school students.

Works Cited

Hall, K. G. (2013, August 29). Teen employment hits record lows, suggesting lost generation. Retrieved from McClatchyDC: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/08/29/200769/teen-employment-hits-record-lows.html

In Your State. (2013). Retrieved from Minimumwage.com: http://www.minimumwage.com/in-your-state/

Spiegel, E. A. (2013, August 19). The Simple Solution to Tackle Youth Unemployment. Retrieved from Linked in: http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130819165448-77238165-the-simple-solution-to-tackle-youth-unemployment