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Teen Unemployment Hits Record 25%
Expert sees teenagers jobless for a 'long, long, long, long time'
By Rob Quinn
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Posted Sep 5, 09 6:45 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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The teen jobless picture is the bleakest since the government started tracking the statistic 60 years ago, the New York Times reports. The rate hit 25.5% last month, nearly triple the rate among other workers. Analysts say teens are getting squeezed out of the workplace by college graduates, unable to find more lucrative work, taking jobs they might otherwise have shunned, and by older workers hanging onto their jobs instead of retiring.
The dismal employment outlook has the silver lining of getting more young people to opt for college, although with few jobs to be had, many can't afford to. Youth employment never fully recovered from the 2001 recession, and experts don't expect things to improve any time soon. "Given that unemployment is a lagging indicator," one expert says, "and young people’s unemployment even lags behind the rest of unemployment, we’re going to see a lot of kids out of work for a long, long, long, long time.”