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June 13, 2004
CHICAGO — Erica Gomez dropped out of high school her freshman year so she could work to help her newly divorced mother pay bills. A year and a half later, Gomez had a baby girl — and the need to make money became even more pressing.
Trouble was, the jobs she could find with no diploma, at a store in her Chicago neighborhood and later at a factory, paid less than $10,000 a year.
"It was depressing. We'd do all this work and still have nothing," says the 18-year-old, who recently enrolled in a class that helps young adults get their GEDs. Last month, she passed a practice test and hopes to score well enough to qualify for a scholarship when she takes the actual general equivalency diploma exam in August.
It is, after all, a hard truth that has only gotten harder in this economy: The less education you have, the more difficult it is to get a job. And the competition for even lower-paying jobs has meant even more teens who can't find jobs, whether full time or just for the summer.
A recent study released by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University put the teen employment rate at 36.8 percent — the lowest since 1948.
"Teenagers are at the end of the hiring queue," says Andrew Sum, the center's director, who notes that jobs that traditionally have gone to youths are often being taken by older unemployed adults — from those who've been laid off to retirees who are re-entering the job market to supplement their pensions.
Meanwhile, Sum says the teen population has grown by about 2 million in recent years, even as federal summer jobs programs for youth have been cut — from 600,000 jobs four years ago to fewer than 100,000 last summer.
Sum cautions a true turnaround in the jobs market can take years — especially for teens and even more so for minorities from low-income families.
Last summer, for instance, Sum says more than 60 percent of white teens from upper-income families got jobs, while only 18 percent of low-income black teens found work.
"Given the competition you've got, you've got to be ready to apply 20, 25 places to hope to get callbacks," Sum says.
Gomez, the Chicago teenager, knows what that's like.
Before enrolling in the GED class at a nonprofit called Jobs for Youth, she applied for countless jobs, noting how her interviewers would frown when she told them she had no diploma.
"Oh," they would say. "Well, we'll call you."
"But they never call," she says.
Gomez hopes to return to work and go to college part time after passing her GED. She'd like to learn more about computers and photography.
Increasingly, jobs programs are focusing on this age group — and emphasizing education as well as networking.
For instance, Long Island Works Coalition, a nonprofit in New York state, serves as a liaison between students, employers and learning institutions.
Today, 80 percent of high school graduates from Long Island — well above the national average — end up going to a two- or four-year institution.
Chris Lynch — who teaches Gomez, Norris and other students at the Jobs For Youth program — agrees.
A GED teacher for 17 years, he says the need for a high school diploma or the equivalent has never been greater.
That's why he chides students who skip his class: "If you can't be here on a regular basis, this program probably isn't going to work for you," he told students during a recent class. "So I'm just putting a little urge out there — SHOW UP!"
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