Who are the Opportunity Youth?

Written by Eric Larson
October 16, 2014

It’s never been tougher for young people of either sex to get a foothold in an upwardly mobile career. About 6.7 million of these “opportunity youth” (a term often used to refer to youth ages 16 to 24) are neither in school nor a job. But our economy — and our country — could be a whole lot stronger if it put the most able-bodied to good use? Here's how some organizations are working to do just that.

Remember the glorious 1950s and ‘60s? Those were the days when unemployment was consistently under 5 percent for years at a stretch and a student just out of high school — or even a dropout, for that matter — could easily step out of the classroom and into a factory job that paid a middle-class wage and a pension. By middle-class wage, I mean enough money to pay one’s modest bills and have money to save for vacation and retirement — even after supporting a spouse and family.

Today it’s hard to imagine that such a reality ever existed. The unemployment rate among 18-25 year-olds is at least 16 percent, depending on location and how you count seasonal workers. Unless you live in Frackville, North Dakota, the days of plentiful, well-paying jobs is gone. Blame it on union-busting, on more women entering the workforce, on technology, on globalization, or on all of the above, the fact is that it’s never been tougher for young people of either sex to get a foothold in an upwardly mobile career. About 6.7 million of these “opportunity youth” (a term often used to refer to youth ages 16 to 24) are neither in school nor a job.

The challenge is huge. As Atlantic editor Don Peck pointed out in an article based on his book, Pinched: How the Great Recession Has Narrowed Our Futures & What We Can Do About It: “The true center of American society has always been its nonprofessionals—high-school graduates who didn’t go on to get a bachelor’s degree make up 58 percent of the adult population. And as manufacturing jobs and semiskilled office positions disappear, much of this vast, nonprofessional middle class is drifting downward.”

Do you agree that our economy — and our country — could be a whole lot stronger if it put the most able-bodied of our country to good use? Several groups agree with that notion and have been focusing on this group for a while:

Opportunity Nation is a collaborative campaign of several organizations that recognize the jobs problem facing young people and that are working to change it. The group advocates government and nonprofits partnering with business on gap-closing initiatives and promoting legislation that closes the education and skills gaps.

YearUp is a year-long program that teaches professional skills to urban youth in 11 cities around the United States. Six months of classroom preparation (which comes with a stipend) is followed by a paid six-month internship that often leads to full-time permanent employment.

Per Scholas has recently rolled out TechBridge IT Prep, a program that prepares young adults for courses in CompTIA A+, Security+ and Network+, including the IT-Ready program Per Scholas delivers with the Creating IT Futures Foundation in five locations.

Every little bit helps. So what can you and your company do to help expand the youth-saving trend?

Create an apprenticeship or paid internship program at your organization. Southwire Corporation in Georgia is a great example of a company that partners with area high schools to increase high school graduation and train up its workforce with its 12 for Life program. (Does your company have a similar program? Then share your story with me so I can tell the world how you do it.) There’s no better way to get young adults working in IT than to provide an opportunity to shine on the job. The successful youth-internship nonprofit Genesys Works can also show you how this approach can work.
Promote career exploration among students in your area. Organizations like Option Explore in the Bay Area are focused on exposing young people to careers through job-shadowing experiences.
Create entry-level roles in your company. It used to be that someone got started in the “mail room” of an organization and worked their way up. Does your company have the modern equivalent of a mail room? If not, you might not be able to recruit and train up the best workforce you can. Working with young people is how you build trust and discover talent that can be molded into long-term employees.
Help promote career fields that need workers. Information technology, nursing, and welding are just a few fields that are hungry for workers. But how would a student in a classroom know that? Guidance counselors are few, and parents — clearly the most influential adults in terms of youth careers — aren’t fully informed. A speaker’s bureau, like Dream IT by CompTIA’s Advancing Women in IT Member Community, is one way to get the word out.
Join the Grads of Life Campaign. This is a new national campaign to expose more young people to jobs and careers. The website posts a number of resources that could help your company get involved.

We’ve all heard of ageism, a very real phenomenon in which older workers are discriminated against. Is it possible that a whole generation of young people has simply been forgotten? We can all do more to bring opportunity to America’s youth.