Teen Employment in Illinois at Low Rate

The employment of teenagers in the Illinois area has continuously plummeted. This information was released by Northeaster University. The employment rate of teenagers in Illinois is actually at its lowest rate within the past 42 years, which is when data on employment was first made available. The teen employment rate was at 27.5 percent in 2011 while it was at 50 percent in 1999 and 2000. It was also at 36 percent in 2007.

The Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University released the report and stated that if the employment rates stayed the same as they were in 1999 and 2000, more than 150,000 teenagers would have jobs in the Illinois area right now. However, this is obviously not the case, with employment for teens at an all-time low for the state of Illinois.

The employment figures for teenagers were even worse for African-American teens because only about 10 of these teenagers out of 100 African-American teenagers was employed in Illinois in 2010. These teenagers came from homes with incomes that were less than $40,000 each year.

Only 18.7 percent of Hispanic teenagers whose families made an income of anywhere from $20,000-40,000 were employed in Illinois.

The report also released statistical information that showed teenagers from Caucasian families with higher annual incomes were more likely to have a job and be employed.

Andrew Sum, a co-author of the recent report, says that these numbers are definitely terrible to look at. Sum says, “Early work experience for kids, for middle- and low-income (teens) especially, is really kind of a predictor of how well they’ll do in their early- and mid-20s.” He also says, “So we’re pushing kids out of the labor market, not giving them any exposure to the labor market, so when they end up looking for work (as adults) they are at a very substantial competitive disadvantage because they don’t have any resume, any skills to offer.”

It is believed that the recession that the United States has dealt with during 2007 through 2009 has caused many of the teenagers to have a harder time finding employment, especially since many of these teenagers are now competing against adults for the exact same job. It has definitely made finding employment harder for teenagers.

With such an absence of available jobs, many teenagers are at a higher risk of getting in trouble with the law. Without jobs, these teenagers are often on the streets and will often end up getting themselves in some sort of trouble. Many people, teenagers included, agree that more available work would help to prevent many different teenagers from getting into any sort of trouble on the streets and also keeping them very productive throughout the summer.