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The Jobless Rate for Poor Black Teen Dropouts is 95%

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Re: The Jobless Rate for Poor Black Teen Dropouts is 95%

#11
What jobs are you going to give them? Cashiers these days have Bachelors degrees in Communications. It's the inflation in the system. America is not producing as many factories as it used to, manual labor jobs in construction are hard enough to get. If you drop out, it's going to be tough to get a job.

Re: The Jobless Rate for Poor Black Teen Dropouts is 95%

#12
post #9
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, just the people who decide who gets them: http://www.nber.org/papers/w9873

This may be the case, but what should the job prospects for teenagers who just dropped out of high school be ideally?

A minimum wage job?

Re: The Jobless Rate for Poor Black Teen Dropouts is 95%

#13
post #10
post #6

So all those factors, when you combine them and take a young black high school dropout, low-income male, you're talking 5 percent employment. Paul Solman: 5 percent? Andrew Sum: Yes. Paul Solman: 95 percent unemployment rate? Andrew Sum: Jobless. Not all of them would be classified as [unemployed], but they're not working. In other words, you could just say, "I gave up looking for work," which a lot of them do, but o…

There are fewer young black people in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska which happen to have higher youth employment rates. So that partially accounts for it. But still, 95 percent..

Yeah, black youth unemployment rates in those states won't have much influence since the black population in those states is much smaller.

However if black youth unemployment rates in those states is better than the national rates (it is unclear if the article is claiming this or not), then it is probably worth looking into what these states are doing that makes this the case.

Re: The Jobless Rate for Poor Black Teen Dropouts is 95%

#14
post #7
post #4

Minimum wage law.

Perhaps the labor law exceptions for farming jobs explain some of the geographic discrepancy. When I was a teenager for a time I was (legally) employed below standard minimum wage working as a farm laborer.

Interesting point. Also, black youths overwhelmingly live in urban areas where labor laws are more strictly enforced.

Re: The Jobless Rate for Poor Black Teen Dropouts is 95%

#15
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This may be the case, but what should the job prospects for teenagers who just dropped out of high school be ideally?

A minimum wage job?

An unconditional basic income is probably a better way to go than a guaranteed minimum wage job.

(Of course you could set the basic income at whatever a minimum wage job would provide.)

Re: The Jobless Rate for Poor Black Teen Dropouts is 95%

#16
post #13
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are fewer young black people in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska which happen to have higher youth employment rates. So that partially accounts for it. But still, 95 percent..

Yeah, black youth unemployment rates in those states won't have much influence since the black population in those states is much smaller. However if black youth unemployment rates in those states is better than the national rates (it is unclear if the article is claiming this or not), then it is probably worth looking into what these states are doing that makes this the case.

Competition is much higher in urban areas. There are more black families in urban areas and thus there are more black dropouts while simultaneously urban areas have become hip destinations for college graduates. I know 20-somethings in NYC with liberal arts and art degrees that still work in retail or food services. And even many of my friends who no longer perform jobs like that did for several months to over a year while they sought out other work. I don't think this is as much of a phenomenon in Montana, the Dakotas and Iowa because they don't have a high rate of 20-somethings entering the workforce from other parts of the country.

Re: The Jobless Rate for Poor Black Teen Dropouts is 95%

#17
post #11

What jobs are you going to give them? Cashiers these days have Bachelors degrees in Communications. It's the inflation in the system. America is not producing as many factories as it used to, manual labor jobs in construction are hard enough to get. If you drop out, it's going to be tough to get a job.

Exactly. Shouldn't this be used as incentive for parents and families within those communities to promote school attendance and encourage academic performance?

Re: The Jobless Rate for Poor Black Teen Dropouts is 95%

#18
Honest question: Have we, as a society, looked into possibly supplying people with short-term loans, with a guaranteed open position for someone at a place in more rural parts of America?

Originally, I was born in Fresno, CA. We didn't have the most healthy job rate when times were good, let alone once the recession hit. I spent five years looking for a job- and didn't find one until I got the help of a friend online in Claremore, Oklahoma, who let me move in. In a month I was working at an auto parts store, even though I knew jack shit about cars. I was making enough that I could've survived with that job. I'd be poor, I couldn't go to college, but I could survive.

I was lucky enough that I had a nice computer I'd gotten from when there was a windfall in the family, and I'd taught myself to program enough Python and Django to get a webdev job remotely. But even if I hadn't, I could've survived on this. Getting me out there cost a grand total of perhaps ~$1500, at most, and that'd get me my first month's rent. Tack on another $1000 and I'd have 3 months rent total and enough leftover to get a cheap bed.

Is this economically feasible? Would it even provide good economic value? People are needed in these rural areas, but I just don't know if it'd provide enough economic reward to actually be worth it to the country.

Re: The Jobless Rate for Poor Black Teen Dropouts is 95%

#20
post #11

What jobs are you going to give them? Cashiers these days have Bachelors degrees in Communications. It's the inflation in the system. America is not producing as many factories as it used to, manual labor jobs in construction are hard enough to get. If you drop out, it's going to be tough to get a job.

Exactly. Shouldn't this be used as incentive for parents and families within those communities to promote school attendance and encourage academic performance?

Or shouldn't it be used to promote alternative methods of education that are accepted by many employers?

STEM fields by and large are the most friendly towards alternative (or complete lack of) education. A well-manicured GitHub, a decent resume, and not looking like an idiot in an interview trumps most college degrees for mid-level developer jobs that aren't Facebook/Google/etc.

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