Scott Betters, 19, of North Syracuse has been out of job for almost two years.
“It is really tough to get a job right now,” said Betters. “People don’t like to hire new people and seasonal jobs are filled up quickly.”
Betters is an example of the special problems of young workers in the recovering economy. Unemployment among young people between the ages of 18 and 19 is double that of the overall workforce, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Consider these statistics on unemployment:
- Nationally, 20.8 percent of people ages 18 and 19 were unemployed, the bureau reported for January 2013.
- That compares to 7.7 percent for people between the ages of 24 and 35 and 7.6 percent of all the workforce nationally.
- In the Syracuse metropolitan area, the December unemployment rate was 8.5 percent, with 27,300 people out of work, according to the New York State Department of Labor.
Young people have a harder time in job-hunting, say experts, because they often lack education and experience. And the economy in Syracuse area still hasn’t fully recovered from the recession in 2008, say experts.
Karen Knapik-Scalzo, labor market analyst of the state labor department, said that Syracuse has a history of a relatively high unemployment rate, because Syracuse used to heavily depend on manufacture industry. For young people, she said, the employment situation is especially tough for those without a high school diploma. About 10 percent of people who have a high school diploma live in poverty, compared to more than 20 percent of those with less education, she said.
Donald Dutkowsky, a professor of economics at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University, studies employment. He blames some of the problems for young workers on New York’s economic environment. New York state is not known as a business-friendly state because of its high business taxes and regulations, and so the situation is even tougher for job seekers in the state, said Dukowsky.
He encourages young people to get a college education. “You may not use your degree immediately,” he said, “but you will use it later.”
Dutkowsky gave some advice to young job seekers: “Get into the world first.” That means to get working experience, he said, “even though it is below your skills.”
For 19-year-old Scott Betters of North Syracuse, the next goal is a bachelor’s degree in education at Onondaga Community College. His last job was working at McDonalds. Because of family a crisis, Betters dropped out of high school. Without a high school diploma, he only could find short-term jobs at grocery stores and gas stations.
“At this time, it is really hard to find a real, decent job.” Betters said, “A lot of my friends have been laid off and moved back to their parents’ house. I just want to find a job to pay my bills.”
(Ruth Jingnan Li is a graduate magazine, newspaper and online journalism major.)
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