Murray Restores Funding for Highly Successful Youth Summer Jobs Program as Difficult Summer Hiring Season Approaches

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray
(D-WA), Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Employment, announced that she
has successfully included funding in the final version of critical jobs
legislation that will restore a national youth summer jobs program for the
coming summer. The program, which last year helped employ over 313,000 teens
nationally and over 5,000 young people in Washington state, is
set to receive $1 billion for the upcoming summer.

“This investment comes just in the nick of time for
young people facing a historically difficult summer jobs market,” said Senator
Murray. “It’s also a big victory for efforts to give young people a
productive summer experience, to helping local businesses and economies grow,
and to providing the next generation with an introduction to the working world.

“I have heard directly from young people who
participated in last year’s highly successful program about how it changed
their lives and gave them the skills and experiences they’ll use to get ahead.
We now have the opportunity to provide the same experience to thousands of
additional young people across Washington state.”

The investment in the 2010 summer jobs program is included
in the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act which the Senate is set to
vote on this week. The spending for the summer jobs program , or YouthJobs
Act, is fully paid for with spending offsets.

The funding for
the summer jobs program will be distributed through the Workforce Investment
Act which brings together public resources and
private industry to create Workforce Investment Boards that act as local hubs
for employment. Each Workforce Investment Boards creates programs specifically
tailored for a region’s needs and employment priorities. 

Washington State Employment Impact

Last year, the summer jobs program Senator Murray
championed in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) gave over 5,000
young people in Washington a summer job experience. With the investment Senator
Murray has now worked to make for 2010, it is estimated that this summer over
5,000 young people will again benefit. A breakdown of the number of young
people who were given work experiences through last year’s program by local
Workforce Development Council regions in Washington state is listed below.

A Difficult Outlook for Summer Job Market

The current job market for youth employment is extremely
difficult:

• In 2009, the teen employment rate had dropped to
  28.4%, a new post- World War II
• In the first three months of this year, for
  every 100 teenagers in the country only 26.2 were able to be working.
• The predicted Teen Summer Employment rate
  nationally for 2010 is 27.4%, another decrease from last Summer’s actual rate
  of 28.5% . This predicted rate would again represent a new post-World War II
  low, 17.6% below its rate in the Summer of 2000.

Building
on A Successful Program

A
report supported by the Department of Labor on the 2009 program found it to
be highly successful.

• Employers
  interviewed for the study were overwhelmingly positive about the initiative. 
  They reported that the experience of mentoring a new employee was worth the
  effort and almost unanimously agreed that they would participate again if given
  the opportunity.
• Many
  young people were enthusiastic about being able to help their families in tough
  economic times.  They also reported that, in the absence of their summer
  jobs, they would be competing with more experienced adult workers for jobs or
  doing nothing productive over their summer breaks.
• Nationwide,
  local areas reported that nearly 75 percent of summer job participants achieved
  a measurable increase in their work readiness skills while participating.
• Available
  data show that more than 82% of participants completed their summer work.

 The New York Times editorial page recently said that “Unless
the Senate acts quickly, this will be one of the bleakest summers on record for
youth employment…summer jobs help young people in desolate communities find
meaning in their lives while improving their long-term work possibilities.” -
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/opinion/02sun2.html