Wall Street Journal (July 1)
2011/ 07/ 03 by jd in Global News
Summer jobs have long been a rite of passage for teenagers, but the percentage of 16-19 year-olds working has dropped to the lowest level since records began in 1948. “Only 24% of teens, one in four, have jobs, compared to 42% as recently as the summer of 2001.” This is due to partly to recession, partly to changing parent expectations, but the Wall Street Journal lays most of the blame on the minimum wage which Congress raised to “$7.25 an hour in 2009 from $5.15 in 2007.” As a result, “millions of kids will spend the summer playing computer games or hanging out” instead of “learning valuable job skills.”
Tags: Job skills, Minimum wage, Summer, Teenagers, Unemployment
