Opinion
The Importance of Summer Jobs
“Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now”
B ernie F oster
Founder/Publisher
B oBBie D ore F oster
Executive Editor
J erry F oster
Advertising Manager
C hristen M C C urDy
News Editor
P atriCia i rvin
Graphic Designer
a rashi y oung
D onovan M. s Mith
Reporters
M oniCa J. F oster
Seattle Office Coordinator
J ulie K eeFe
s usan F rieD
Photographers
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Summer jobs for youth are an investment in America’s future
our first job brings
you more than just a
steady paycheck – the
experience teaches young peo-
ple life and work skills that serve
them long after the job is done.
But as our nation continues to
recover [from] the deepest reces-
sion since the Great Depression,
American youth are struggling to
get the work experience they need
for jobs of the future.” – White
House, “We Can’t Wait Initiative”
Statement Release, January 2012
“Y
Marc H.
Morial
National
Urban League
ability of teens to jump-start their
future careers, as they were once
able to, remains in jeopardy.
Not only did jobs disappear
Like so many millions of teens before
and after me, I had the chance to be
exposed to the world of work at an early
age. And I earned more than money
from the experience
I can still remember my very
first job – and the valuable lessons
I learned from it that continue to
inform my career to this day. I got
my first taste of entrepreneurship
as one-third of a three-man jani-
torial company I started with two
childhood friends. We mowed
lawns, washed cars and cleaned
windows. If it needed fixing or
cleaning, we were the ones to call.
At the age of 15, I earned my
first steady paycheck as a copy
boy for a local newspaper. Like
so many millions of teens before
and after me, I had the chance to
be exposed to the world of work
at an early age. And I earned more
than money from the experience.
With work came important les-
sons about responsibility, effec-
tive communication, time man-
agement, interpersonal skills and
more. Today, as our nation contin-
ues to recover from the crippling
impact of the Great Recession on
our economy and job market, the
during our nation’s economic
downturn, summer jobs – widely
acknowledged as the traditional
means of entry into our nation’s
workforce for teens and young
adults – became scarce. Competi-
tion from older workers for those
entry-level jobs once reserved for
teens increased as the labor mar-
ket weakened, and with states
slashing budgets to make ends
meet, state and federally-funded
summer jobs placement programs
were either underfunded or cut.
But teen employment matters for
their future and for our nation’s.
It not only gives young people
something productive to do during
the summer months, that job in
the retail store, library or the local
newspaper is money in their pock-
et and money being spent within
the community. Studies have also
shown that those who work when
they are young are more likely to
be employed in the future and will
earn higher salaries.
After a high of 27.2 percent teen
unemployment in 2010, accord-
ing to the Bureau of Labor Statis-
tics, unemployment for workers
ages 16-19 is now down to 17.9
percent. As is the case with adult
workers, teens are beginning to
find jobs as the market recovers,
but unemployment remains high
for young people—disproportion-
ately affecting low-income youth
and Blacks and Hispanics.
The national unemployment rate
stands at a staggering 30.1 percent
for Black teens and 19.2 percent
for Hispanic teens. The groups of
teens who need the work most in
order to help themselves, and very
often make a significant contribu-
tion to their family’s budget, are
not finding the jobs.
Our nation’s answer to this
dilemma has been a fractured
portrait of private and public ini-
tiatives and success. Cities and
states have cobbled together
money – when it’s in the budget
– and have funneled it to local
groups or agencies that connect
youths to jobs or job training. In
2012, the White House launched
services through the Urban Youth
Empowerment Program. While
all of these efforts are laudable
and have changed many lives and
communities for the better, it is
not enough. Our nation needs to
expand summer job programs and
create year-round employment for
our young people. We need a com-
mitment that says yes to teens and
to their future. Our nation needs a
comprehensive jobs solution for
young people, because piecemeal
solutions will only deliver far-
flung pockets of success.
Investing in our young people
is an investment in the continued
strength of this great nation and
its workforce. Young people need
the formative workplace skills
they can get in those entry-level
jobs to move on to greater career
success and higher salaries in the
future. Our nation, and its local
economies, benefit when teens
spend their disposable income.
Surely there are tax loopholes,
corporate or otherwise, that can be
closed, bringing additional dollars
to the table to invest in our young
people. The financial cost of not
Studies have also shown that those who
work when they are young are more
likely to be employed in the future and
will earn higher salaries.
Summer Jobs+ as part of the “We
Can’t Wait” initiative. The project
brought together the federal gov-
ernment and the private sector to
create 180,000 employment op-
portunities for low-income youth.
At the National Urban League,
we work with at-risk youth to in-
troduce them into the workforce
through a comprehensive set of
investing in teens, not creating
opportunities for future success,
is what will cost this country, and
our future in the fast-paced global
economy, the most.
Marc H. Morial, former may-
or of New Orleans, is president
and CEO of the National Urban
League.
Bigotry was the Problem in Charleston
D
ylann Roof did not kill
people in South Carolina
because they were Black.
He killed nine people because he
is a hateful bigot who despises
Black people.
We must not articulate these
murders as though being Black is
the problem.
Being a bigot is the problem.
Roof is the Bigot.
Roof is the problem.
I am also sick of newscasters
Kathleen
Saadat
COCL/
COAB
Optimally, they would say some-
thing like, “Most Black people
I want to know: for whose benefit is
anyone pretending that we don’t
understand what happened?
saying, “People are trying to un-
derstand what happened here.”
Page 2 July 1, 2015 The Portland and Seattle Skanner
and many white people understand
what happened here. Black peo-
ple are overwhelmed with grief
at the loss of family and friends.
Black People are also sad and an-
gry knowing that American white
supremacist thinking will contin-
ue to foment violence, and that
this violence will be denounced
by much of America while at the
same time they will remain silent
about the very American roots of
Mr. Roof’s beliefs.”
Could newscasters and analysts
say this, please?
They could add, “Most Ameri-
cans will continue to remain silent
about the everyday violence of
poor schools, substandard hous-
ing, the school to prison pipeline,
the buying and selling of women
and children etc. -- all phenome-
na that are outgrowths of the same
principles Roof used in his mur-
derous thinking.”
That quote would be a really
nice addition.
I want to know: for whose ben-
efit is anyone pretending that we
don’t understand what happened?
What are we looking for as an
explanation for this act?
Why are we even looking when
we experience the crux of the an-
swer in our daily lives?
When will we recognize that it is
not Black and brown people who
are threats to America, but the
people filled with such hatred that
they can justify discrimination,
bigotry, racism and nurder.
They are truly high-level threats
to our national security.
If this young man was try-
ing to act as a catalyst for a race
war, what does he know that we
are ignoring? Let’s stop the B.S.
Kathleen Saadat, COCL/COAB
community liaison for police re-
form