LEANING RIGHT - The July issue of Fortune Magazine contained an article on Why America’s Youth Aren’t Finding Jobs.
The July employment report shows that the job market for 16 – 24 year olds is worse than you think, and it could have long-term effects for the economy.
Most alarming is not what the article says but what it blatantly omits and overlooks. It dwells on the musings of the pundits who kick it around in the faculty lounges of our higher institutions.
“Some economists have argued youth unemployment isn't as bad as it's made out to be, since many enrolled in school or college are neither employed nor looking for a job and therefore aren't counted as part of the workforce. Of all other months, July provides one of the more accurate pictures of what young people face today -- it's a time when most are taking a break from school and looking for work.”
"They're not in school, so what are they doing?" asks Diana Carew, economist at Progressive Policy Institute, who studies youth unemployment. She points out that July's jobs report shows that the share of unemployed 16- to 24-year-olds not in school stood at 17.1%, compared with 11% six years ago. And while workers in general have been leaving the labor force, partly because they're aging into retirement, it's especially worrisome when young people drop out: In July, 8.4 million 16- to 24-year-olds stopped looking for work altogether, a rise from 6.8 million a year earlier.
How many more facts, figures, and percentages can we take? Either you have a job or you don’t.
What is blatantly omitted and overlooked are the real reasons that America’s youth are not finding jobs. Nothing whatsoever is said about:
● Obamacare
● Taxes
● Government Policies – An example is our pitiful energy policy
Here again nothing is sticking to the current administration. Even after 5 years the media once again gives the President a “pass.” Neither the current administration nor the President is held accountable for the pathetic state of today’s economy.
More pathetic than this is the fact that these omissions and oversights are done in this article at the expense of our youth. Black youth are the most affected.
(Kay Martin is an author and a CityWatch contributor. His new book, Along for the Ride, is now available.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 11 Issue 65
Pub: Aug 13, 2013
