Editorial

Creating More Jobs for Teens Is Critical

The numbers are alarming.
In 1999, more than half (52.5%) of Massachusetts teens ages 16 to 19 held paying jobs. By 2009, that number was down to 32.1%, and for the first four months of this year, it was 23.6%.
That figure will undoubtedly rise during the summer, when teen employment is traditionally at its highest, there is a trend emerging across the Bay State and it does bode well for our cities and towns: teens are just finding it increasingly difficult to find employment.
There are many reasons for this movement, the biggest being the economy and its many side effects.
While conditions have improved somewhat over the past few quarters, the recovery has been mostly a jobless one. This means that teens have competition for open jobs from thousands of unemployed individuals across the region. Meanwhile, ongoing concerns about the recovery and its relative staying power have left many business owners skittish about doing any additional hiring, even if they are part-time positions. Also, many companies learned during the downturn that could make do with fewer people in some offices or departments, and the fact that times are better doesn’t mean they’re going to become less lean.
Beyond the recession, there are certainly some other factors at play with this trend toward teen hiring. First, there are far fewer drug stores, hardware stores, and video stores for young people to work at, and fewer large businesses that have the flexibility to bring on help in the summertime. Another factor is the very real possibility that, when given the choice between hiring a retired Baby Boomer with good work habits and a desire to stay active and hiring a 17-year-old that is a largely unknown commodity, business owners are choosing the former — and who could blame them?
Whatever the reasons behind the trend, there are some real dangers to our region and its job market if it continues.
As Bill Ward, director of the Regional Employment Board, points out in the story that begins on page 6, jobs connect teens to the world of work. They introduce them to the workplace and, in most cases, compel them to become more responsible. It is while employed that young people learn the importance of showing up on time, being part of a team, and doing the best job they can — always.
But in the workplace, young people also learn from their elders. Every Baby Boomer remembers his or her first (or second, or third) job, and they recall more than the skills they acquired and the experiences they recorded, but also some life lessons from people 20, 30, 40, or more years older than they were.
All these things are missing from the equation when teens can’t gain employment.
That’s why it’s important for companies, often working in collaboration with agencies like the REB, to be diligent and imaginative in creating strategies that can create summer jobs or internship opportunities such as those created by Western Mass. Electric Co. and Big Y.
These programs not only help young people by giving them jobs, spending cash, money for college, and a chance to stay off the street and out of trouble. They also help the companies in question by introducing teens to those businesses and the career opportunities that can aspire to. They call these win-win scenarios.
This region and its business community face a number of challenges. Creating more jobs for teens may seem one that belongs far down on the page of priorities, but the reality is that addressing this problem now can lead to far fewer problems down the road.