Permanent Damage

Unemployment has hit all of America hard. But it has hit teenagers worst of all. Some 25.5% of teens who want to work are unable to find a job.

This August, the teenage unemployment rate – that is, the percentage of teenagers who wanted a job who could not find one – was 25.5 percent, its highest level since the government began keeping track of such statistics in 1948. Likewise, the percentage of teenagers over all who were working was at its lowest level in recorded history.

“There are an amazing number of kids out there looking for work,” said Andrew M. Sum, an economics professor at Northeastern University. “And given that unemployment is a lagging indicator, and young people’s unemployment even lags behind the rest of unemployment, we’re going to see a lot of kids of out work for a long, long, long, long time.”

That, in turn means that a lot of teens will not get experience and will not begin building up a resume. When they do finally find work, they will be lagging behind. This is a rotten situation. It actually gets worse, however. One reason for the high unemployment rate for teens is that recent college graduates have had to take those jobs that normally are held by teens:

Recent college graduates, unable to find higher-paying jobs, are working at places like Starbucks and Gap, taking jobs once held by their younger peers. Half of college graduates under age 25 are in jobs that do not require college degrees, the highest portion in at least 18 years, Mr. Sum said.

That won’t be a great thing for the college graduates, either. Being under-employed is pretty close to being unemployed as far a resumes go. 

How much of this is attributable to the increase in the minimum wage? Lawhawk at A Blog for All says it is largely the fault of that bit of demagoguery:

When Democrats raised the minimum wage, I warned that it would lead to increased unemployment. Guess what – it did. Employers have to increase the amount of money paid to entry level workers, which means that there’s no incentive to bring on additional workers in a down economy when it costs more.

I’m quite sure that the increase has had a negative effect. I am also quite sure that this particular teen unemployment rate will have lasting consequences for this country and for those teens for years to come. Blame the current administration for this disaster.