This session was devoted to a discussion of the dimensions, causes, and implications of the recent high levels
of teenage unemployment. Part of the explanation relates
to the recession, and part to the way teenagers participate
in the labor market. Also, unemployment is a particularly
serious problem for certain groups of teenagers, for example,
nonwhites and high school dropouts.
Ralph Smith's paper presents some quantitative estimates of the effects of the 1974-75 recession on teenage
unemployment rates and jobless rates.1 Dr. Smith reports
that teenagers bear a disproportionate share of the loss
of jobs from the recession. One out of four job losses
associated with the recession was incurred by a teenager,
although teenagers accounted for only about 9 percent of
the total employment at the start of the recession.
On the impact of macroeconomic policies, Dr. Smith
concludes that "teenage joblessness should decline sharply
as the economy recovers, with the strength of the recovery
of utmost importance to youth." However, macroeconomic
policies alone will leave the teenage jobless rate substantially higher than that of adults.
Bernard Anderson's paper stresses that the job market
situation of nonwhite youths is much worse than for white
youths and that the disparities in terms of higher unemployment rates and lower labor force participation rates for
1. The jobless rate includes, in addition to those
counted as unemployed, an estimate of the number of persons who are not actively searching for a job (and therefore are not counted as unemployed) but who would be in
the labor market if the economy were operating in the
range of 4 percent overall unemployment.
(i)
77-208 O - 76 - 2nonwhites have become greater over a long period of time.
Among the causes of labor market problems for nonwhite
youths, Professor Anderson cites weak job markets in central
cities, racial discrimination, educational problems, and
changing attitudes among youths. In the policy area, Dr.
Anderson reviews some pluses and minuses of past manpower
programs for youths and outlines the types of programs
which he feels would be most effective. Among other recommendations, he emphasizes the importance of the quality of
work experience. He suggests for consideration a yearround, work-study program for inner-city youths.
The discussion brought out some of the unique aspects
of teenage unemployment compared to adult unemployment.
For example, a disproportionate share of unemployed teenagers are new entrants and reentrants to the labor force;
and the duration of unemployment among teenagers tends to
be shorter than among unemployed adults. Some of the
teenage unemployment is associated with the transition from
school to finding the first post-school job
No comments:
Post a Comment