Jobs Windfall May Turn Summertime Blues Bright for Teens

For jobless teen-agers in San Diego, there’s hope this summer.

A $4.2-million windfall going to summer employment programs for disadvantaged youths has doubled the number of government-subsidized jobs in San Diego, bringing the figure to 6,000.

Meanwhile, the same administrative body overseeing the program is also soliciting private businesses to employ youths in 3,250 unsubsidized summer jobs.

If the Hire-A-Youth programs go according to plan, they will send more than 9,000 people ages 14 to 21 into the local work force for up to nine weeks, said City Councilman George Stevens.

Stevens’ 4th District office is helping to promote Hire-A-Youth’s training and placement services, which are run by the San Diego Consortium &Private; Industry Council. The government-subsidized jobs are available to children from families who fall under federal Job Training Partnership Act guidelines.

The $4.2 million from a federal urban aid bill that President Bush signed into law last weekend comes at a time when the state’s employment prospects for youth are the bleakest in years.

In May, the unemployment rate among California youths ages 16 to 19 was at 22.3%, according to the state Employment Development Department. In some low-income neighborhoods, unemployment figures have reached as high as 40%, officials said.

Totaling $500 million, Bush’s summer jobs package has been meted out to cities according to population and employment figures. The jobs aid bill is one of several measures taken by the Administration in response to social unrest nationwide during April and May. Los Angeles, where rioting racked the city for three days, received $9.7 million.

In San Diego and other cities spared from rioting, there has still been a sense of hopelessness in many low-income neighborhoods, a result of the recent decline in the economy and generations of suffering under economic blight, Stevens said.

In April, 1,094,000 were employed in San Diego County compared to 80,500 who were seeking work, according to the Employment Development Department. The unemployment rate for youth ages 16 to 19 was about twice that of the general work force.

“We are still certainly in that recessionary mode,” said Jay Horowitz, a labor marketing analyst at the Employment Development Department, who commented on the state’s overall employment outlook.

Part of the solution is to bolster training and placement programs, Stevens said.

The consortium’s summer jobs project began in 1983, and is part of the group’s overall employment curriculum, which has a $24-million budget, and which also targets adults, said Scott Scherer, a Hire-A-Youth spokesman.

Traditionally funded by the Department of Labor, the program was budgeted for about $4.4 million and expected to subsidize about 3,000 jobs in public and not-for-profit organizations, until the new aid package was announced.

Subsidized clerical jobs will be offered by the city and county, the Navy, local school districts and government hospitals. Additional jobs include community improvement projects such as graffiti removal, park maintenance and neighborhood clean-up campaigns. Minimum wage will be paid. The positions will last on average about six weeks, Scherer said.

Youths will be selected by program administrators, then sent to job preparedness classes, where they write resumes, go through mock interviews and discuss work ethics and ethnic and cultural differences, Scherer said. Vocational skills will be taught to some.

“For many kids this is their introduction to the job world,” Scherer said. “We want to start them off with a good feeling about work.”

Simultaneously, the Consortium group and city officials are looking for private businesses to participate in the program by offering temporary jobs that will be available to all youth. As of Thursday, about 800 positions had been filled. Last year about 3,000 jobs were offered by private business.

To participate or for more information, call (619) 231-4473.