WAITING GAME: Congress is considering whether to...

WAITING GAME: Congress is considering whether to cut one of the nation’s largest federal job programs, the Summer Youth Employment program. So 15,000 kids from poor families in L.A.--including thousands in the Valley--might not get subsidized jobs at $5 an hour this summer. Tony Cuppari, student adviser at San Fernando High School, says plenty of youths are signing up anyway: “We don’t have too much problem recruiting.”

AGE SQUEEZE: Teen-agers need federal job programs because they face competition from older workers, says Aaron Loewy of the federally funded Verdugo Employment program in Glendale. His next batch of 55 trainee jobs in the private sector starts in July, and his ads state clearly that applicants can’t be older than 21. But Loewy turns away one-third of respondents because they’re too old. Callers as old as 40 “are willing to accept any type of work--even fast food,” he says.

JOB SOUGHT: If Congress cuts Summer Youth Employment, San Fernando High School student Joel Mancilla, 16, may be idle this summer. Joel (above) is one of six kids. His mom’s unemployed. He gets mostly A’s, and wants to be a lawyer. If he gets in the program he’ll save for a car to go to college. He doubts he’ll work otherwise: Employers “always want someone with experience.”

PAVEMENT POUNDING: Good news on the teen-age job front is that Northridge Fashion Center, once a big employer of teen-agers, has more stores reopening after earthquake damage is repaired. JC Penney will reopen in June, and it’s been holding job fairs in the mall’s parking lot on Saturdays. Big crowds turn out. So far the parking lot sessions have provided about 200 of the 400 new workers the store needs.

SINK OR SWIM: Another big employer will be the soon-to-open “Hurricane Harbor” water park at Magic Mountain. Good swimmers have an edge--the new park needs 100 lifeguards. Magic Mountain trains them, and there’s no shortage of applicants: “You wouldn’t believe how many kids want to be lifeguards,” said spokeswoman Bonnie Rabjohn.