 According to a report by the Illinois Department of Employment Security, the
state ranks among the worst in the country for employment of teenagers and young
adults.
With a young adult employment rate of 59.4 percent, Illinois finds itself
looking up at the national rate of 61.7 percent — and up at every other
Midwestern state as well. North Dakota leads the Midwest in the young adult
employment category with a 77.3 percent rate. Nine other Midwestern states are
about 65 percent.
And a teen employment rate of 26.3 percent, lands Illinois behind even the U.S.
national rate of 26.6 percent. North Dakota leads the Midwest with a rate of
50.9 percent. Eight other Midwestern states, including Wisconsin and Iowa, are
above 30 percent.
Gary Burtless is a senior economics fellow at the Brookings Institute and says
economic stagnation often affects young people harshly.
“The first jobs to go when things get bad are the expendable ones, the ones that
can be easily replaced,” Burtless said. “Restaurants, part-time labor jobs and
the like will opt to give fewer employees more hours in order to save money. And
a high percentage of workers in these types of jobs are young people.”
Burtless said many young people work for small businesses rather than large
corporations and these businesses usually take the brunt of an economic decline.
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 “Illinois’ overall economy is struggling right now, and that
hurts everyone,” he said. “But it especially hurts the little guys
and the little guys do most of the hiring of young people.”
Greg Baise is the president and CEO of the Illinois Manufactures
Association. He agrees with Burtless that a down economy negatively
affects young people at increased rates.
“It’s fairly obvious why,” Baise said. “Teens and young adults work
the kind of jobs that aren’t available when businesses don’t have
extra money lying around. Many employers would love to hire a high
school or college student for a summer job and give them some
experience, but aren’t able to because finances are tight right
now.”
Baise said if Illinois can find a way through its economic
stagnation, more and more young people will be able to find work
again.
With the exception of working seniors, every demographic group in
Illinois continues to experience an employment rate lower than it
was in 2008.
[This
article courtesy of
Watchdog.]
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