Jobs for only 25% of teens: study

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

As few as 25 percent of 16- to 19-year-olds are likely to be employed this summer, part of a decades-long trend of declines in teen summer employment, according to a report to be released today at the Chicago Urban League. By comparison, 45 percent of teens had summer employment in 2000, a study by Northeastern University’s Center for Labor Market Studies found.

The low employment rates will have negative repercussions on teens’ future employability, report co-author Andrew Sum warns. The report looked at teens ages 16 to 19.

“The less work you do when you’re a teenager, the less likely it is that you work [right] after you graduate, and you’re going to end up getting lower-wage, less employment when you’re in your early- to mid-20s,” he said.

Yet, some politicians want to make the young more unemployable by raising the minimum wage.