Teen Unemployment: A Growing Crisis

Teen Unemployment: A Growing Crisis
With fewer than 40 percent of teens in the labor force in cities such as Philadelphia, Chicago, and Detroit and closer to 20 percent in New York (Wall Street Journal [WSJ], 1991), we should be alarmed. Why are such small numbers of urban teens working or seeking work? Perhaps, these city kids do want to work, but the resources just aren’t there. With more teens falling out of the labor force and into the “hidden unemployed”, the economies of our large cities are going to take a hit; causing the national economy to suffer as well.
In the case of Alex Perez (WSJ), as with many other urban youth, he is not being counted as part of the labor force or as unemployed. Alex is a prime example of the discouraged worker or “hidden unemployed”, who is an individual that falls out of the labor force because he or she is convinced of not finding a suitable job (Miller, 2001, pg. 148). Even though Alex would like to have a job and is te...