Has the First Job Disappeared? Connecting Young Workers to Employers and Career-Building Work Experiences

High unemployment rates among teens and young adults have caught the attention of the popular press, policymakers, and many others. Labor market participation – working or actively seeking work – has fallen for these groups at alarming rates since 2000, especially for teens. While the declines have affected all young worker demographic groups, unemployment is even more acute for young people of color who have lower levels of labor market attachment overall. Research shows that unemployment and underemployment for young adults will have lasting consequences in the form of repressed wages, decreased upward mobility, and lessened productivity over their work lives. Society at large loses, too, in terms of lost tax revenues and productivity and increased public benefits. What is causing these trends? Is the economy experiencing structural or cyclical changes that would explain it? Is it sluggish job growth or technology? Have employers just altered their preferences? This panel explores trends in young adult workforce participation and potential factors driving them. Panelists take a close look at the role employers and stronger connections to employers can play in helping teens and young adults access career-launching work experience. Panelists also discuss policies that may be contributing to the problem as well as those that may help to improve young worker access to early work experience and economic prosperity. This event features Lashon Amado (National Coordinator of Opportunity Youth United Community Action Teams), Amy Barad (Director of Strategic Initiatives, Cowen Institute, Tulane University), Kisha Bird (Director of Youth Policy, CLASP), Paul Harrington, Ph.D. (Director, Center for Labor Markets and Policy, Drexel University), Tammy Simmons (Vice President of Marketing & Culture, Machine Specialties Inc.), and moderator Melanie Trottman (Labor and Economics Reporter, The Wall Street Journal). This event is part of the Working in America series, an ongoing discussion series hosted by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program that highlights an array of critical issues affecting low- and moderate-income workers in the United States and ideas for improving and expanding economic opportunities for working people. For more information, visit as.pn/workinginamerica. The Economic Opportunities Program advances strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate-income people thrive in a changing economy. We recognize that race, gender, and place intersect with and intensify the challenge of economic inequality and we address these dynamics by advancing an inclusive vision of economic justice. For over 25 years, EOP has focused on expanding individuals’ opportunities to connect to quality work, start businesses, and build economic stability that provides the freedom to pursue opportunity. Learn more at as.pn/eop.