Thursday, September 4, 2008

Summer Jobs in Decline

Fewer black teens looked for jobs this summer, and fewer found them.

The unemployment rate for African Americans age 16 to 24 was 24.8 percent in July -- twice the rate of white youth and almost three times the rate of Asian American youth, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The overall youth unemployment rate of 14 percent was the highest for July since 1992.

The reason, of course, is that a slowing economy leads to fewer openings and more competition.

But there's another issue: Almost half of all black youth didn't try to find a job this summer. Some of them attended summer camps or summer school, but many of the 45.3 percent of the young black population just sat on the sidelines. That number has risen from 42.2 percent in 2006.

By comparison, 31.9 percent of white youth, 39.9 percent of Latinos and 49.4 percent of Asians were neither looking for a job nor employed this summer -- thus officially "not in the labor force."

Those of all races who found jobs were concentrated in leisure and hospitality or in retail. Together, those two categories provide four in 10 teen jobs.

-- Vickie Elmer