U.S. Teenagers Spurn Working as School Takes Priority
By Jeanna Smialek Feb 19, 2014 12:01 AM ET
A high school commencement on May 22, 2013 in Boulder, Colorado.
Akil Alvin, 19 and from Detroit, is struggling to land a job as he competes with older, more skilled applicants. Alex Lothspeich, 17 and from Charlotte, North Carolina, is choosing not to enter the workforce to focus on high school.
Both illustrate changes sweeping the teen labor force. Young Americans such as Alvin who want to work can’t find jobs as unemployment among 16-to-19-year-olds stands at more than three times the rate for all workers. At the same time, more teens are taking Lothspeich’s tack, forsaking paid positions to concentrate on getting into college.
Just one in three teens in the U.S. worked or looked for a job in January, a record-lowsince 1948 when the Labor Department data starts. That lack of on-the-job experience could cost future workers, who may lag behind on basic skills their parents developed waiting tables or running registers, some economists say.
“Work experience complements skill, and the combination of the two is more valuable than either one alone,” said Anthony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. “It is more difficult to get going, to get onto the on-ramp, in the American economy than it used to be.”
